Charles Spurgeon and occultism

[ndrw]

Hey everyone,

So I came across a website that talks about a topic that I have not seen many people talk about. And it's about Charles Spurgeon being a Freemason and his dealings with occultism. Now any "prince of preachers" would know better to stay away from Freemasonry and occultism and not to defile his sermons with occult phrases and blasphemous sayings against God. Accidentally or ignorantly using an occult word in like one or two of your sermons is understandable, but when it happens multiple times in multiple different sermons it is not understandable anymore...

For instance he equates the love of the Lord Jesus to that of a magic circle:
"Carrying the text beyond its original position, we may say that over the head of all infirmities, ignorances, selfishnesses, desertions, and denials, Jesus Christ, who had loved his own that were in the world, loved them to the end. It was not possible for them, with all their follies, failings, and sins, to break through the magic circle of his affection; he had hedged them in once for all, bad bound them to himself with bonds firmer than brass, and stronger than triple steel, and neither could the temptations of hell, nor the suggestions of their own corruptions tear them from his heart." Said in his sermon: "The Faithfulness of Jesus #810" https://www.spurgeongems.org/vols13-15/chs810.pdf
Magic circles are a Masonic ritual and are used in witchcraft.

He also suggests to essentially count your blessings by the Zodiac:
"You may say, “Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the ho use of the Lord forever.” Do not pick out one day in the year, and say it was a bad day, but take all the year round! Let it revolve in all its grandeur; let all the signs of the Zodiac come before you. Do not say, “I have been in Cancer a long time,” but run through them all, and then get into Libra and judge between things that differ. And then what will you say? 'Ah, bless the Lord! He has done all things well; my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name!" Said in his sermon: "Caanan on Earth #58" https://www.spurgeongems.org/vols1-3/chs58.pdf

The one that blew me away was when he blasphemously called God, "the everlasting Freemason":
"There will be nothing there that is trumpery or temporary; everything there is the best of the best, most suitable for the inhabitants, and most glorious to behold. The very streets are paved. with gold, exceeding rich and rare. The best builders of earth cannot be compared to the great Builder above, the eternal Architect, the everlasting Freemason who has built those many mansions where his saints shall dwell forever." Said in his sermon: "Abraham, a Pattern to Believers #2292" https://www.spurgeongems.org/sermon/chs2292.pdf
Also note that "the great Builder" and "the eternal Architect" are also Freemason terms.

So I'm just letting you all know about it so you can judge ye yourselves. I will post the link to the website that has much more about the subject so you can have a look for yourselves.
https://www.libertytothecaptives.net/charles_spurgeon_index_page.html

[Rowan M.]

Thank you for sharing that. Interesting and rather perturbing, because Spurgeon is certainly very popular (a number of Christians that I'm friends or acquaintances with on Facebook like quoting him, and he has said many excellent things, but it doesn't excuse him saying things like this).

I remember Liberty to the Captives. Used to visit that site quite regularly back in the early 2000s following my "Great Theology Shift" in the year 2000 itself. However, at some stage I stopped visiting it, and it wasn't in my current bookmarks. But since you had a link to that site, I decided to have a poke around, and it wasn't long before I found some serious false teaching. Specifically to do with eternal security. Gary and Lisa Ruby, who run that site, teach that Christians who persist in serious sin for long enough will lose their salvation. Some evidence of their heresy:

https://libertytothecaptives.net/sinning_christians.html

https://libertytothecaptives.net/working_out.html

https://libertytothecaptives.net/grace_abiding.html

It is noteworthy to me that Lisa is a lot more "vocal" on these pages (and I think elsewhere on the site too) than Gary. That in itself feels "off" to me. Sure, it's a website and not a church, but even so, the fact that the wife and not the husband is doing the bulk of the teaching on this site just doesn't sit right. It also kind of amuses me that on one of the cited pages, she bemoans a "doctrine of devils" while teaching such a doctrine herself in the process!

Also, on this page - https://libertytothecaptives.net/how_to_get_to_heaven.html - they have a false definition of repentance: "To repent means to forsake your evil ways and listen to God". So it's the classic false "turn from sin" definition. Nothing whatsoever on there about grief and godly sorrow, although I think there is a little bit about humbling yourself.

However, that does not mean that their warnings about Charles Spurgeon are wrong. So I'm not saying that what ndrw has posted about him should be discounted. It also doesn't mean that everything on that site is bad. I think that's why I visited Liberty to the Captives for a while, because there was some stuff worth reading. But on the basis of their false teachings about repentance and eternal security, Gary and Lisa Ruby should be marked and avoided.

[ndrw]

Yes, I know many Christians highly reverence the man, but I almost never hear anything about these things.

And yes, my apologies for not adding in a warning about their understanding of repentance in the first post. I haven't looked too much at their other topics though.

[ndrw]

I'd also like to add that if anyone downloads a PDF of one his sermons some are reeeallyy long, so you can press "ctrl+F" to bring up the search bar and you can type in the phrase so it can take you to it.

[Anna G]

So I came across a website that talks about a topic that I have not seen many people talk about. And it's about Charles Spurgeon being a Freemason and his dealings with occultism. Now any "prince of preachers" would know better to stay away from Freemasonry and occultism and not to defile his sermons with occult phrases and blasphemous sayings against God. Accidentally or ignorantly using an occult word in like one or two of your sermons is understandable, but when it happens multiple times in multiple different sermons it is not understandable anymore...

Thanks for pointing out Spurgeon’s use of occultic language – it’s good to be aware of. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was a Freemason.

I’ve had a weary feeling about him for a while now. It doesn’t sit well with me that he used such dramatic and exaggerated language and metaphors, which were very worldly and tickling to the ears.

I believe that as we mature as Christians, the Holy Spirit teaches us to be more clear, precise, careful and sober with our words, which is in contradiction to his deliberately embellished and poetic speech. The three quotes of his that you posted are good examples of this.

I understand that Bible teaching can necessitate a good amount of speaking, but my concern is in the quality rather than the quantity of his speech. I also understand that different figures of speech can be helpful for instruction, but again, my concern is in the flamboyance of his chosen words – it seems to me that he spoke in order to deliberately engage the emotions, rather than to instruct the mind in simple Godly edification.

I think Paul warned of such men when he wrote, “lest any man should beguile you with enticing words” Colossians 2:4.

[Rowan M.]

I believe that as we mature as Christians, the Holy Spirit teaches us to be more clear, precise, careful and sober with our words, which is in contradiction to his deliberately embellished and poetic speech. The three quotes of his that you posted are good examples of this.

I understand that Bible teaching can necessitate a good amount of speaking, but my concern is in the quality rather than the quantity of his speech. I also understand that different figures of speech can be helpful for instruction, but again, my concern is in the flamboyance of his chosen words – it seems to me that he spoke in order to deliberately engage the emotions, rather than to instruct the mind in simple Godly edification.

These are good observations, Anna, and thank you for sharing them. They made me reflect a little on my own writing. God has given me an ability to write reasonably well. In the past, I have misused this gift for my own glory, but now I want to use it to serve and glorify God. However, I still have to beware of any tendencies to "show off" in my writing, such as using (or perhaps more precisely, overusing) literary devices, jokes (not that there's anything wrong with the odd bit of humour), or anything else that's overly "flamboyant". As you say, that is more likely to engage the emotions rather than instruct. The aim should be to edify, not amuse. I want to point people to Christ, not me. If I get too fancy with my writing, they might start thinking about how I have entertained them, rather than receive the instruction I wanted to impart. Of course, you don't want to be completely boring either (the reader has to be engaged somewhat), but there's a balance between making something readable and understandable, and making it too fancy. Something else I have to watch myself with is using more complex words or phrases "because I can", when simpler ones would be adequate and probably much clearer. I should get into the habit of calling a spade a spade, and not a digging implement.

Being clear, precise, careful and sober are all really good things to aim for when talking about the things of God, and the main purpose should indeed be simple Godly edification. I agree that over time, the Holy Spirit helps us with the way we communicate.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. (Romans 15:2)

Thanks again for highlighting this key difference between Spurgeon's writings and the more sober kind of writing we should be aiming for. I really appreciated your insights here, and I think the Lord used them for the reflections and self-examination that I have talked about in this post.

[Anna G]

Being clear, precise, careful and sober are all really good things to aim for when talking about the things of God, and the main purpose should indeed be simple Godly edification. I agree that over time, the Holy Spirit helps us with the way we communicate.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

Thanks again for highlighting this key difference between Spurgeon's writings and the more sober kind of writing we should be aiming for. I really appreciated your insights here, and I think the Lord used them for the reflections and self-examination that I have talked about in this post.

I appreciate your personal reflections and insights, Rowan. As Christians, I think that it’s important for us to deliberately think and pray about the words we use.

In conclusion to what I said above, I think the worldly culture around us generally applauds speech that is flamboyant, dramatic, embellished, and exaggerated. But from my experience, lies and deception are often embedded within – or are never far behind – the use of this type of language.

Thanks again for your edifying thoughts.

[Pilgrim Mike]

I used to follow his teachings heavily when I attended a baptist church then a non denominational church. I realized how much emphasis most " preachers" put on his teachings and not on God's word. I'm so grateful that with the leading of God's Holy Spirit I've come to understand that denominations really are unbiblical. I look back and think about how many times I've heard preachers quote Spurgeon/his teachings as if they spoke from the throne of God themselves. It almost seems like they're highly esteeming him and that goes against God's word to begin with. Forgive but I don't recall the scripture at the moment dealing with that but when I do I'll be sure to mention it later. Thank you for the references.