The bringers of false and strange fire
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A 21st Century Defense of Christianity
by Peter D. Goodgame
Introduction
Here at the dawn of the Third Millenium after the birth of Jesus Christ, the mainstream media has directed much attention to the beliefs and expectations of millions of Christians that the world will soon enter a time of Tribulation followed by the Second Coming of their Savior. Time, Newsweek, PBS, A&E, and even 60 Minutes have jumped on this subject, with what appears to be an agenda of proving to non-Christians that Christians are a bunch of irrational, out-of-touch lunatics whose belief system is dependant on blind faith and confusing, discredited and misunderstood ancient religious texts.
This editorial will attempt to show that Christians who believe in prophecy are not driven by irrational “blind” faith, but by their knowledge of two sets of data: Biblical/Historical Data, and the corroborating Contemporary Data. This editorial will also reveal that the media’s analysis of the Biblical/Historical Data is superficial and it’s analysis of the Contemporary Data is virtually non-existent. If the general public were simply presented, in an unbiased and factual manner, these two sets of data, then the public perception of Christian expectations would change from it’s present attitude of patronizing incredulity to one that would most likely be more sympathetic and understanding. Granted, not all would accept and believe the Christian message, but all, even the most extreme skeptic, would have to admit that the Christian expectation of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is understandable and even rational based on the data.
Rather than go into detail and refute the specific errors and shortcomings of the major media’s many articles, specials and documentaries, I will simply give a brief overview of the pertinent data, as it is seen by myself and many other prophecy-knowledgeable Christians. I believe that this short and by no means exhaustive list speaks for itself and proves that the major media either has an agenda against Christianity or has simply and inexplicably failed to do its homework.
The Antichrist
Christians believe that before the Second Coming a man will arise who will succeed in uniting virtually all of humanity in a world system to be composed of a single religion, a single government and a single economy. He will blaspheme the Creator and work to deceive every person on this earth into accepting him and rejecting Jesus Christ. Despite his evil intent he will use seemingly good causes to become loved and even worshiped by many, and he will achieve power and respect through his ability to perform miracles, signs and wonders. To verify the Biblical Data regarding this man go to- http://www.redmoonrising.com/biblicalAC.htm
The 20th century has seen the decline of traditional Christian beliefs and the rise of the seemingly all-inclusive, multi-dimensional belief system known loosely as “New Age” spirituality. Helena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey were two of the most well known organizers of this movement in the early part of this century (and they will be referred to throughout this article). Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society and Bailey, later a president of the TS, founded the organization known as the Lucis Trust, which has counted as members men of great influence such as David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Paul Volker and George Schultz. Blavatsky and Bailey were avid trance-channelers who claimed to receive messages from spirit entities and both recorded many predictions that were made to them regarding the inevitable appearance of “The Lord Maitreya” or “The Christ” on the earth immediately prior to earth’s initiation into the utopian “New Age.” Because these women engaged in the biblically-forbidden practice of spiritism and because the messages they received were deeply anti-Christian, mocking and ridiculing traditional Christianity, bible-believing Christians have understood that the appearance of the man whom Bailey and Blavatsky predicted was not a prediction of the second coming of Jesus Christ, but was very possibly a prediction of the future Antichrist.
A man by the name of Benjamin Creme, a self-described disciple of both Blavatsky and Bailey, appears to have taken over where they left off. Through his early studies of their works he became convinced in the reality of the “Ascended Masters,” (the supposed inter-dimensional beings who direct humanity’s evolution), and claims that in 1959 he was first contacted by them. According to Creme’s biography… “He was told, among other things, that Maitreya, the World Teacher — the Master of all the Masters — would return in about 20 years and that he (Creme) would have a role to play in the event if he chose to accept it.” Creme claims that he has been in constant telepathic contact with “Maitreya the Christ” since the early ’70s and that Maitreya finally entered civilized society privately in 1977 when he materialized in human form and took up residence in a suburb of London. Since then Creme has traveled the world, giving lectures and appearing on talk shows, to prepare the world for the public emergence of Maitreya. He also claims that a major American television network has agreed to interview Maitreya at a time of Maitreya’s choosing.
One major aspect of Creme’s mission was the formation of Share International Foundation and the publication of it’s monthly self-titled magazine. Each issue contains a brief synopsis of the emergence of Maitreya on the first two pages and then a brief message that has been trance-channeled through Benjamin Creme from an Ascended Master known simply as “The Master” on page three. The spiritual thrust of SI is clearly obvious in each issue that is published. Despite this fact, or perhaps because of it, SI has a long list of prominent, well respected international diplomats, religious leaders and political figures who have had articles published in this magazine. They include articles written by former UN leader Boutros Boutros-Ghali; present leader Kofi Annan; former President of Ireland Mary Robinson; Gro Harlem Brundtland who is director-general of the World Health Organization and former Prime Minister of Norway; the Dalai Lama; and recently even Britain’s Crown Prince Charles. Even though the average man on the street would most likely dissolve into hysterical laughter upon being presented with the beliefs of Creme and Share International, it is easily shown that this magazine is well-respected and taken seriously by many influential members of the Global Elite. In fact, Share International Foundation is accredited as an official non-governmental organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and the magazine, as stated on the inside cover of each issue, is published by SI “…in association with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations.”
Creme and Share International are both intimately connected with a number of New Age groups including the Freemasons (Creme often lectures in Masonic halls), the Tara Canter of Hollywood, CA, the Theosophical Society, the Lucis Trust (one of thirty-six contributing organizations to the United Nations Millenium Forum of May 22-26, 2000), and World Goodwill, an organization created by the Lucis Trust and also recognized by the UN as an official NGO. World Goodwill also actively promotes the appearance of “Maitreya the World Teacher” in their literature and on their website.
Maitreya claims to be “The Christ” returned, yet there are many aspects of his character and many of his predictions (as given by Creme) which fall in line with the bible’s predictions of the coming Antichrist and the events that will surround the end of the age. For instance, Maitreya predicts many natural disasters and a period of violence and destruction prior to earth’s entry into the New Age; he warns that the worldwide capitalist financial system will be overturned; he predicts that a new world religion will be established under his guidance and that he will be aided by a future leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Regarding the current problems between Israel and the Palestinians Creme has stated that when Maitreya appears he will solve them, saying, “I believe Maitreya alone has the spiritual authority to point to the solution and achieve its implementation.” Most Christians understand that the final seven year period of earth’s rebellious history begins with a covenant that will involve the Antichrist and the nation of Israel. In addition to these facts Creme says that Maitreya may be rejected by intolerant “fundamentalists” (Christians and Jews), and “The Master,” an unnamed being who also speaks through Creme, warns of people who will reject Maitreya based on “scriptural warnings which they all too readily misinterpret.” (This researcher is doing his best to interpret them correctly.)
To verify this evidence which supports the Christian expectation of the coming Antichrist go to- http://www.redmoonrising.com/contAC.htm
The False Prophet
The book of Revelation makes it clear that the future Antichrist will be aided by an individual known as the False Prophet. He is the man who helps to convince the world that the Antichrist is worthy and deserving of worship, and ultimately it is he who enforces this worship on penalty of death. The bible also makes the provocative implication that the False Prophet may actually claim to be Jesus of Nazareth, and the prophet Daniel tells us that this powerful spiritual leader will come from Rome. Go here to verify this data- http://www.redmoonrising.com/biblicalFP.htm
Benjamin Creme, through the messages that he has received from Maitreya, tells us that “The Christ” and the “Master Jesus” are two separate individuals. According to him, Jesus of Nazareth channeled the power of “Maitreya the Christ” to make it through his crucifixion, death and resurrection as described in the Gospels. However, Creme claims that the simple message of Jesus of Nazareth was quickly twisted into wicked “fundamentalism” and the present Christian Church is the result. Because of the “problems” within Christianity Creme claims that the Master Jesus (an “Ascended Master,” along with Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, Sai Baba, etc.) has also privately entered human society and that he has the task of reforming Christianity so that it will accept the authority and direction of Maitreya the Christ. According to Creme, the Master Jesus now lives a relatively private life in Rome. Creme predicts that when the present Pope dies the Master Jesus will come out of his obscurity and take up a position of power within the Roman Catholic Church. He has also stated that right now there are two members of the Roman Curia (the members of the Pope’s inner circle) who are secretly direct disciples of the “Master Jesus,” although Pope John Paul II has rejected Maitreya. These predictions have been made numerous times in Creme’s written works, his lectures, on radio and on the official Share International website. Here is a quote from the “Frequently Asked Questions” page of the SI site,
From http://www.shareintl.org/background/FAQ/faq_main.htm#anchor17
Q: Could you explain the relationship between the disciple Jesus and the Christ?
BC: The disciple Jesus, who is now the Master Jesus, was born in Palestine as a third degree initiate. The five major Initiations which take one to Liberation have their symbolic enactment in the life of Jesus. That is what the Gospel story is really about. It is a very ancient story and has been presented to mankind again and again, in different forms, long before the time of Jesus. He was, and still is, a disciple of the Christ and made the great sacrifice of giving up his body for the use of the Christ. By the occult process of overshadowing, the Christ, Maitreya, took over and worked through the body of Jesus from the Baptism onwards. In his next incarnation, as Apollonius of Tyana, Jesus became a Master. He lives now in a Syrian body which is some 600 years old, and has his base in Rome. He has, in the last 2,000 years, worked in the closest relation to the Christ, saving his time and energy where possible, and has special work to do with the Christian Churches. He is one of the Masters who will very shortly return to outer work in the world, taking over the throne of St Peter, in Rome. He will seek to transform the Christian Churches, in so far as they are flexible enough to respond correctly to the new reality which the return of the Christ and the Masters will create. I am afraid that the Churches have gone very far away from the religion which the Christ inaugurated; which is to do with sharing, with love, with brotherhood and right relationship. But this monolithic institution has grown up in the name of that simple man and transformed his simple teaching into … well, you know what it has taught.
In summary, it is clear that Benjamin Creme claims that “Jesus” now lives in Rome and that he will take over the Roman Catholic Church and then lead humanity to accept Maitreya the “Christ.” For more on these predictions, which precisely correspond with the bible’s prophecies of the False Prophet, please go here- http://www.redmoonrising.com/contFP.htm
Restructuring the Calendar
The prophet Daniel predicted that the future Antichrist would endeavor to change the calendar. This understanding is taken from Daniel 7:25, “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws.”
The World Summit on Peace and Time convened at the University for Peace in Costa Rica on June 22-27, 1999. The University for Peace is run by the United Nations and the Chancellor is Robert Muller, a former assistant Secretary-General of the UN (Muller credits Djwhal Khul, Alice Bailey’s guiding spirit, as the inspiration for his World Core Curriculum for education). The purpose of this summit was to prepare a Declaration on Calendar Reform as well as seven accompanying Articles of Resolution. The final goal is to change the calendar from its present “artificial” twelve month year to a more “natural” thirteen month year that more closely parallels the lunar and biological cycles. Kofi Annan and the Dalai Lama also expressed support for the project and it was attended by Maurice Strong, the secretary-general of the UN’s 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and highly regarded New World Order heavyweight. The proposed calendar is declared to be the new “Calendar of Peace,” and the results and declarations of this summit have been submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations and to the Vatican.
Of course a bigger thorn in the side of the New Age movement, and presumably an irritant to the future Antichrist, is the fact that our present calendar is now set up to date from what was considered the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. Every time an individual writes out a check or signs a document he or she is acknowledging the amount of time that has passed since the earth’s Savior was born. When the Antichrist does make his public appearance and gains the necessary power he may indeed initiate calendar reform, perhaps changing it to a thirteen month year, and most likely doing away with our system that dates from the year of Christ’s birth. To verify this data go to- http://www.redmoonrising.com/calref.htm
The Rapture
According to the Bible there will be a future time when all of the believers in Jesus Christ are taken off of the earth to heaven to be protected from the time of terrible tribulation known as the Day of the Lord. This miraculous rescue is described in a number of Biblical passages such as Matthew 24:36-42,
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
And also 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17,
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…”
The secular media approaches this far-out belief with much patronizing glee, seeming to ask, “What person in his right mind would actually believe such ridiculous nonsense!?” The truth is that there are many people other than just bible-thumping Christians who believe in a very similar future event:
New Age guru David Spangler writes that “those attuned to the old world” will be “transported through the [cosmic] law of attraction” to “another planet, plane of existence or level of earth’s consciousness where they can be contained… the main point is that they will lose, for the time being, their access to the etheric planes of power and the ability to control or influence the developments upon earth.” (Revelation, Birth of a New Age, pp.163-4)
Best-selling New Age author, intellectual and promoter John Randolph Price was told by his spirit guide Asher, that in the near future two billion people who could not cope with the reality of the New Age would be wiped off the face of the earth during the future “cleansing” period.
New Age channelers and gurus around the world predict an event very similar to the biblical rapture, yet from their point of view the rapture will not be an event which rescues God’s faithful from His impending wrath on a wicked world, it will instead be an event that removes those who lack the proper spiritual vibration. It is said that those taken are those whose beliefs are characterized as “intolerant,” “fearful” and “of the past.” From the New Age perspective the rapture is seen as a global “cleansing action” that will remove “dark thought forces” to allow the earth to ascend to a higher plane of existence.
Barbara Marciniak is another well-known New Age channeler who predicts this event. This woman claims to have been telepathically contacted by aliens who come from the star-system of the Pleiades, and she has written numerous books on the messages that she has channeled from them. These spirit beings tell her a number of things regarding the future “shift in consciousness,”
“If human beings do not change — if they do not make the shift in values and realize that without Earth they could not be here — then Earth, in its love for its own initiation, is reaching for a higher frequency, will bring about a cleansing that will balance it once again. There is the potential for many people to leave the planet in an afternoon.”
“The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.”
“Some of you want to pretend that the earth changes are not occurring. However, they are occurring, and there is nothing to fear, for they are part of the process of the great shift… Whether you stay on the planet and alter your vibration, or you check out and sit in the bleachers to watch the show, doesn’t really matter. On some level, in some avenue of existence, you will participate and you will learn.”
Thelma Terrell is yet another New Age author and trance-channeler. Also known by her spiritual name of “Tuella,” she wrote a book entitled Project World Evacuation. They are messages channeled from a being who calls himself Ashtar, the leader of an alien confederation, and throughout it are documented the predictions that this spirit being has made regarding the future “evacuation” of a significant number of human beings from off of the surface of the earth.
As New Age spirituality becomes more widespread the practice of channeling inter-dimensional beings increases as well. The internet is full of countless websites dedicated to this anti-biblical practice of contacting the spirit world. These sites document even more channelings which predict a future “cleansing action,” “evacuation,” or “transference” of a segment of humanity to another location.
Sheldan Nidle operates the “Planetary Activation Organization,” based in Maui, Hawaii, which is dedicated to preparing the world for extra-terrestrial contact. His website contains articles which refer to an evacuation of certain people to special mother ships of the inter-galactic fleet. He writes that these people will then go through a special “orientation training” before being released. In another section one of Nidle’s “lightworkers” asks him if New Age meditations and rituals might make an evacuation unnecessary. Nidle responds that although the rituals are essential the evacuation must still take place.
The Ashtar Command is another internet-based organization that claims ET connections. They make mention of an “ascension” process that goes through several phases. The second wave of Ascension is described as “the beginning of the evacuation,” but the timing of this event is not given because the announcement of dates “is not permitted.” This group also recognizes the Lord Maitreya as the “current planetary Christ.” The Ashtar Command has branches all over the world including Norway, Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States.
Soleira and Santari Green are two channelers from England who communicate with a being who likes to call himself “Metatron.” In one of their articles Metatron offers a warning to those who resist “unity” in the New Age,
“It is the time of the joining. It is the time of the choosing. And those who wish not to walk upon this path will be transitioned, transferred to a different reality. The time is upon us. The enemy is at hand and is about to become one with us and will be the enemy no longer. No longer will be there dark or light, good or bad. Only will there be unity and those who wish not to operate in unity, will operate elsewhere in another universe.”
Cristah is a Florida based “lightworker” who operates a website titled “Gateway to Oneness.” Within her site are channeled messages which predict that the earth will soon be ascending into the fourth dimension, but that individuals who lack the proper vibration will be left behind. Apparently from the earth’s point of view these individuals will simply appear to blink out of existence.
These are just a few of the many channeled predictions regarding the future disappearance of millions of people that can be found within New Age literature and on the internet. This information is strong evidence in support of the Christian expectation of a miraculous Rapture of every Saved individual from the earth to heaven. The only difference is that the Bible predicts that the good people will be taken while New Age trance-channelers are being told that the bad people will be taken. To verify all of these quotations and for much more please go to-
http://www.redmoonrising.com/contrapture.htm
To study the Biblical Data regarding the Rapture go to- http://www.redmoonrising.com/biblicalrapture.htm
For more information on this subject and to see the above quotes as well as many more go to-
http://www.redmoonrising.com/newage.htm
This leads us to address the reality of the fallen angels.
UFOs, Aliens, the Ascended Masters and the Fallen Angels
Throughout the 20th Century our secular academics have led humanity on a path that has rejected the existence of the spiritual side of the universe in favor of a completely materialistic paradigm. Our children are taught in public schools that all there is is all we can see and verify with the physical senses. As science and technology have improved we have turned our focus to the universe around us, leading many to hypothesize that because the universe is so big that life must have randomly evolved elsewhere from some other bubbling pool of slime. Carl Sagan was perhaps the king of the secular intellectuals, championing science and rejecting religion and spirituality as mere “pseudo-science.” He was one who romantically imagined that a highly evolved extra-terrestrial race might exist out there somewhere and he documented his notions into what became the movie “Contact.” It was promoted with the provocative, supposedly controversial affirmation of “We Are Not Alone!” Welcome back to solid Biblical Truth, Mr. Sagan.
Despite the fact that the major media promotes the notion that the existence of an advanced race of beings would be a challenge to the biblical view, the truth is in fact the opposite. The bible is clear that humanity is not alone and that non-human beings exist and have interacted with us from our beginnings. They are called “angels,” and they are divided into two groups, one group serves the Creator, and the other has rebelled against Him and taken over this earth. The “fallen angels” can also be divided into two groups, the first group, according to Ephesians 6:12, exists now in the heavens, the aerial regions around the earth, and Satan is the ruler of this “kingdom of the air,” (Ephesians 2:2). Revelation 12 predicts that in the future Tribulation, Michael will lead the good angels in a war against Satan and these fallen angels and cast them out of the heavens and physically onto the surface of the earth. The second group of fallen angels exists right now in a temporary place of confinement known as the Abyss. This group of imprisoned angels is led by an angel known as Apollyon (Rev. 9:11), and some of these demons will be let out of the Abyss to terrorize the earth for a time during the Tribulation.
The bible offers evidence that at one time some members of the first group of fallen angels actually co-habitated with human women, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4). This type of contact was apparently forbidden by God, and the angels guilty of this are among those who now reside in the Abyss, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home–these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 6-7).
The study of ancient history has been a goldmine of information which has brought forth evidence that substantiates the biblical view that a higher race of beings once intimately interacted with ancient civilizations. Zecharia Sitchin is perhaps the most influential of these researchers. For over twenty-five years or so this man has gathered evidence from ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite and other records, which all point to a time when nations were controlled by a higher race, the gods of “mythology.” The Sumerian records are the most ancient and many date to well past 2000 BC. These records were kept on baked clay tablets, and thus escaped decay. They have been uncovered on a massive scale during this century in the ruins of Sumerian cities, offering a glimpse of ancient history that is quite startling. These records show that the Sumerians knew that the solar system included the planets Neptune, Uranus and Pluto (modern astronomers did not discover Pluto until 1930). The records prove that the Sumerians understood that the earth orbits the sun, that they knew the relative sizes of all nine planets and they knew the relative distances between the planets. Sumerian records have also corroborated the book of Genesis point by point, from the genetic/sexual interaction of the Anunnaki/Fallen Angels with human beings, to the great flood, to the dispersal of the nations at the tower of Babel, and even documenting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ancient records from the Middle East and from the Americas even offer evidence that at one time the sun stood still in the sky for an extended period of time as related in the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua.
The Sumerians referred to these advanced beings as the “Anunnaki,” which means “Those Who From Heaven To Earth Came,” while the Hebrews referred to them as the “Nephilim” which means “Those Who Were Cast Upon [the earth].” The Sumerians and other pagan civilizations worshiped these beings as gods, while the Hebrews were told by God that they were rebellious beings outside of God’s grace who were to be shunned. Their final end was predicted in Jeremiah 10:11, “These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
Helena Blavatsky referred to these “gods,” these wicked fallen angels, as “The Ascended Masters of Wisdom,” (perhaps down is considered up from their perspective). Through her channelings of these beings they convinced her of their benevolence, and they also led her to develop some very racist evolutionary ideas, promoting the notion of an Aryan race, and denigrating the Jews as inferior. This notion reached it’s climax through an Austrian by the name of Adolf Hitler. Dietrich Eckart was the famous occultist and German nationalist who befriended Hitler and promoted Blavatsky’s work, leading Hitler into a deeper and darker occult vision. At the very end of Hitler’s notorious book Mein Kampf, Hitler closed with these words,
“And I want also to reckon among [Nazi heroes] that man, who, as one of the best, by words and by thoughts and finally by deeds, dedicated his life to the awakening of his, of our nation: Dietrich Eckart.”
Blavatsky’s signature publication was a huge volume entitled “The Secret Doctrine,” which claimed to illuminate the true origins of mankind and our relationship with the Ascended Masters. At the end of Dietrich Eckart’s life, as he lay dying, he offered these final words regarding his infamous protege,
“Follow Hitler! He will dance, but it is I who have called the tune. I have initiated him into the ‘Secret Doctrine,’ opened his centers in vision and given him the means to communicate with the Powers. Do not mourn for me: I shall have influenced history more than any other German.”
The Apostle Paul referred to these “Powers” in his letter to the Ephesians as enemies of humanity (6:12), “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Is it such a shock to realize that Hitler was motivated by an evil much more real and much more dangerous than simply his own deluded mind? The occultic source of Hitler’s beliefs and goals have been documented in numerous literary works, yet why is there no mention of the spiritual side to his evil movement in our textbooks? Why is this information considered irrelevant?
Many secular researchers are fantasizing that UFOs are purely physical, and that they represent contact with a race of beings from another planet. However the data that has been gathered over the years on the UFO issue does not support this hypothesis. The UFO phenomenon does not represent the attempts of another intergalactic civilization to contact humanity, rather it is a phenomenon that has been with us throughout our recorded history and it is a phenomenon which transcends the materialistic rules that our modern scientists believe to be true. Jacques Vallee is perhaps the most unbiased and “scientific” among those who endeavor to understand the UFO phenomenon. Here he comments on how modern “science” conveniently ignores major facets of humanity’s existence,
“I have never been comfortable with an arbitrary separation of the world into the physical universe (which is presumably what science studies) and the psychological, social and psychic side of life. To me that arbitrary separation is the major weakness of our intellectual system.” (From an interview with Jacques Vallee in the e-zine 50 GCAT.)
And here are two quotes from him which deal with the subject of UFOs,
“The UFO Phenomenon exists. It has been with us throughout history. It is physical in nature and it remains unexplained in terms of contemporary science. It represents a level of consciousness that we have not yet recognized, and which is able to manipulate dimensions beyond time and space as we understand them.” (From his book Forbidden Science.)
“The UFO phenomenon represents a manifestation of a reality that transcends our current understanding of physics… The UFOs are physical manifestations that cannot be understood apart from their psychic and symbolic reality. What we see in effect here is not an alien invasion. It is a control system which acts on humans and uses humans.” (From Messengers of Deception.)
And they will continue to manipulate and deceive us until we are liberated from their control at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. For more information on this subject and to verify the data in this section please go to- http://www.redmoonrising.com/powers.htm
The New World Order
According to the prophecies of Daniel, the Antichrist will arise out of a single kingdom that dominates the entire world (7:23-24). The Antichrist may appear before this predicted New World Order, but he will not take over effective control until after it has been established. The so-called “New World Order Conspiracy” suffers greatly from ridicule in the mainstream media, but it is a reality nonetheless, with many different, yet inter-related supporting factions.
Three of the most important factions are:
The International Bankers Cabal- the monetary powers who rule behind the scenes.
A handful of families have, little by little over the centuries, gained control of virtually the entire world through their creation of central banks in the different economic centers of the world. First in Continental Europe, then in England, and then in America through the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The banks these families own, despite the fact that they have names like the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve (sic) Bank of New York, the Bank of France, the Bundesbank-Germany, etc, are not institutions that exist by the people and for the people, but are instead completely private institutions that operate purely for the profit of the small group of elites who own them. This is how the United States Treasury has amassed a debt of trillions of dollars (a debt which we the people are responsible for), while the Federal Reserve has never been more profitable (a profit enjoyed by the owners of the Fed). Yet this incredible state of affairs is almost never commented on by the media, and those who call for eliminating the Fed and returning financial controls back to the public are labeled as kooks and extremists.
The situation is even worse in the Third World where, after half a century of “aid” from institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, these countries find themselves in a condition of perpetual debt and poverty that has stemmed from their reliance on high-interest loans that have often been squandered by their despotic leaders. The homepage of the official website for the World Bank (worldbank.org) is emblazoned with the headline, “Our Dream is a World Free of Poverty.” The fact is that the World Bank is one of a handful of institutions most responsible for the pathetic situation that the Third World is currently mired in. Bruce Rich, a former consultant to the World Bank, demonstrates this very conclusively in his book “Mortgaging the Earth,” and many other critics have amassed significant data and research proving this conclusion as well.
The march to a socialist, dictatorial New World Order is led by the men who control the world’s money, and many believe it will be ushered in by a pre-meditated and manipulated world financial markets crash which will, as did the crash prior to America’s Great Depression, act to transfer wealth from the masses back to the central banks, and to transfer power from the masses to a small circle of elitists bureaucrats. Benjamin Creme, in his lectures and writings, has stated many times that the appearance of Maitreya will be accompanied by a major stock market crash and a global financial meltdown.
The United Nations- the diplomatic/political arm of the NWO.
The UN is an organization that was created immediately after World War II to aid the moneyed elite in their goal of establishing a one world socialist government. Since that time it has steadily gained influence and respect. For the most part the UN is a benevolent organization with goals of world peace, ending poverty and hunger and stopping disease, yet there are many sinister aspects of this organization as well. The UN is striving to have all religions respected and acknowledged as equal in truth, and is promoting a ban, aimed at evangelical Christians, on all forms of proselytizing. The United Nations is also pushing for a worldwide ban on civilian gun ownership and it is promoting abortion as a “human right.” The UN is also working towards the establishment of a permanent “police force,” and supporting the formation of a permanent World Criminal Court.
All of these goals have the effect of limiting personal liberty and giving control and influence of many aspect of public life into the hands of unelected bureaucrats. Can we trust them to make the best decisions for individuals and the world as a whole? Increasingly we are being forced to accept their rules whether we agree with them or not.
The New Age Movement- the spiritual force motivating the NWO.
Alice Bailey and the Lucis Trust were staunch supporters of the formation of the UN. In her channeled writings it has often been stated that the UN is the organization whereby a united and peaceful world will be established. For years this occultic New Age organization was headquartered on UN property at the UN Plaza, until recently moving to a location on Wall Street. In 1950 the Secretary-General of the UN at the time, Dag Hammarskjold, designed the official UN Meditation Room and it was given over to the Lucis Trust, which has maintained it to this day. Share International also speaks highly of the UN. An SI columnist, Bette Stockbauer, writes this of the UN, “Maitreya and his group of spiritual co-workers have designed a plan that is brilliant in its simplicity and insight. They visualize a world organization, administered by the United Nations, which will completely restructure our economic systems. Instead of the present system of domination by market forces which has led to the complete polarization of wealth, we will see an equitable distribution of planetary resources. Instead of a world in which the richest societies blindly ignore the total degradation of countless millions, we will see the greatest solicitude for human suffering.”
The basic tenet of New Age belief is that all religions come from the same source, and that all serve their own limited purposes and point to a higher truth. New Age belief understands that all successful religions recognize the Golden Rule of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Within Christianity this Rule is understood as the second most important commandment, yet NA belief elevates this commandment to prime status and dispenses with Christianity’s most important commandment as irrelevant (see Matthew 22:34-40). With this basis the New Age movement welcomes a New World Order that will be based on socialism and the priorities of human evolution and environmental protection, and the global elites who actually control the mechanisms that could produce a NWO are deceiving countless well-meaning New Age believers into supporting their goals.
The Final Goal
Foster Bailey, the husband of Alice Bailey, referred to Hitler’s Third Reich as an attempt to put the ‘Plan’ into action. The next totalitarian experiment is just on the horizon and New Agers, communists, socialists, liberals, and other left-wing intellectuals and activists are ready to embrace it with open arms. Once again the tried and true technique of the Hegelian Dialectic is being used by the global powers to achieve their desired goal. On the one hand the moneyed elites are promoting full-scale global capitalism through the policies of the IMF and the WTO. This system puts profit as the ultimate goal, promotes greed, selfishness and materialism, contributes to environmental degradation, and places the third world in a system of indentured servitude. Yet on the other hand the moneyed elites have a history of supporting communism and socialism through their complicated network of private trusts and media control. They engineered the creation of the UN and they have infiltrated the global environmental movement. Why would the powers responsible for the present system of out-of-control global capitalism also promote the very forces which seem to be against it? Because they see neither global capitalism nor idealistic democratic socialism as the ultimate goal. By playing both sides they aim to achieve the desired synthesis which will be a totalitarian New World Order under their complete control (at least until the Antichrist takes command).
To verify the New World Order data please go here- http://www.redmoonrising.com/NWO.htm
End-Times Babylon
The 17th and 18th chapters of the book of Revelation offer a detailed description of the last great secular superpower that the world will see. She is shown as a woman that is dressed in “linen, purple and scarlet,” and named Babylon the Great. She is referred to as a great city, but other prophecies make it clear that she represents more than just a single city.
– This woman is said to effectively rule over the kings of the earth.
– The great city of Babylon is referred to as the “city of power.”
– Geographically she resides “on many waters,” and is composed of a melting pot of cultures.
– In Old Testament scriptures Babylon was the home to Jewish exiles, and this is implied of end-times Babylon as well.
These are all important clues regarding the identity of end-times Babylon, but by far the majority of the descriptive emphasis is placed on the fact that she is the world’s foremost economic power:
– Babylon is described as the wealthiest nation on the earth, basking in her “excessive luxuries.”
– She is described as being the home to the “merchants of the earth,” and these merchants are called “the world’s great men.”
– Her crimes include seducing the world through the luxuries that are peddled by her global merchants.
– Her general attitude is described as one of supreme self-confidence and arrogance, but when the great city is suddenly destroyed the merchants of the world weep with grief because of their terrible loss.
After the sudden destruction of the great city of Babylon the remnant of end-times Babylon appears to resist the New World Order and the conquests of the Antichrist. However this resistance is ultimately crushed and the nation is absorbed into the Antichrist’s kingdom as related in Revelation 17:17-18, “The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled.”
For more information regarding end-times Babylon, and for evidence of her obvious identity, please go to-
http://www.redmoonrising.com/MysteryBabylon.htm
Conclusion: Humanity’s Current Situation
One of the most important foundations of the Christian faith is the doctrine known as “Original Sin.” This is the belief, taken from the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, that mankind is presently separated from God and the legal property of Satan and the Fallen Angels. Over the years, through a critical examination of history and through the research of politically incorrect topics such as UFOs and extraterrestrials, many well known secular researchers and historians have come to the similar conclusion that this earth is indeed controlled and manipulated by non-human beings who have an agenda all their own.
Researcher Jim Marrs, near end of his recent book Rule By Secrecy, mentions this possibility (p406). He quotes from William Bramley, who wrote in his book The Gods of Eden, “Human beings appear to be a slave race languishing on an isolated planet in a small galaxy. As such, the human race was once a source of labor for an extraterrestrial civilization and still remains a possession today. To keep control over its possession and to maintain earth as something of a prison, that other civilization (the “Custodians”) has bred never-ending conflict between human beings, has promoted spiritual decay, and has erected on Earth conditions of unremitting physical hardship. This situation has lasted for thousands of years and it continues today.”
Marrs also quotes from journalist Charles Fort (p.406), who wrote, “I think we are property. I should say we belong to something: that at one time, this Earth was No-Man’s Land, that other worlds explored and colonized here, and fought amongst themselves for possession, but that now it’s owned by something…” (Fort, The Books of Charles Fort, Henry Holt, 1941, p.163)
Fringe researcher David Icke offers these words about our situation, “Planet Earth was hijacked, you could say, and taken over by another civilisation or civilisations, which are highly advanced technologically, but pretty low on love and wisdom… Both the hijacking extraterrestrials and those with humanity’s interests at heart were regular visitors to the earth thousands of years ago. They became the ‘gods’ in the ancient texts and legends which have formed the foundations of most, perhaps all, of the major religions today.” (Icke, “…and the truth shall set you free,” Bridge of Love, 1995, p.5
Icke refers to this evil extraterrestrial race as the “Prison Warders from the Fourth Dimension.” Icke is definitely not a Christian, yet he has arrived at some uniquely Christian conclusions. He writes, “I think the takeover of Planet Earth was achieved by what I call the Luciferic Consciousness…” (“…and the truth…” p.9) Elsewhere Icke concludes that there will soon be a world government complete with a “central bank, currency, and army, together with a micro-chipped population linked to a global computer…” (“…and the truth…” p.428). These are all biblical predictions, yet Icke has arrived at his conclusions purely through his own contemporary secular research.
Zecharia Sitchin is yet another historian who conclusively demonstrates throughout his numerous works that the ‘gods’ of mythology, who exhibited extra-dimensional capabilities and UFO-like qualities, were very real beings who actively controlled every ancient pagan civilization except for the Hebrews. His works could be collectively titled “The History of the Fallen Angels,” yet they should be read with care, because the texts from which he draws his history are from the perspective of peoples who worshiped these beings as gods, revealing a bias that Sitchin often fails to mention.
And finally here again is a quote from perhaps the most respected scientific researcher of the UFO phenomenon, Jacques Vallee
(from http://www.arts.arizona.edu/v2/Sources.html)
“The UFO phenomenon represents a manifestation of a reality that transcends our current understanding of physics… The UFOs are physical manifestations that cannot be understood apart from their psychic and symbolic reality. What we see in effect here is not an alien invasion. It is a control system which acts on humans and uses humans.” (Messengers of Deception, 1979)
Obviously this researcher may differ with some of these statements regarding the nature of the controlling power, but the quotes from these independent secular researchers have been offered to prove only one point: All of them have come to the conclusion that the human race is controlled, even owned, by a non-human intelligence, and that this intelligence has been shown to often work against the best interests of humanity. Of all the major established belief systems there is only one that sets forth as a foundational doctrine the fact that humanity and indeed the entire earth is owned by a group of extra-dimensional beings who are in rebellion against the Creator. According to the bible this rebellion will one day end, and all who are a part of it, either actively or passively, will be held accountable. According to Christianity humanity is Lost, yet God has offered a way to be Saved, one single way out which can be found through a humble and sincere search for the truth. It is a profound, yet simple answer. So profound that our brightest intellectuals struggle with it and often reject it, yet so simple that it can be easily understood by children as young as my own two year old son. The origins of the human race and of our present situation are believed by many to be veiled in allegory in the book of Genesis, yet the basic truths are easily understood.
When Jesus first actively began His mission on this earth as the Messiah, the Savior of the earth, he began it with a period of fasting and prayer in the mountainous desert of Judea for forty days. During this time Satan appeared and tried to tempt Him. These temptations ended with the offer recorded in Matthew 4:8-10, “…The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” Jesus did not dispute the fact that Satan owns all the kingdoms of the world, nonetheless He rejected the offer on the basis that it was a sin to worship anyone other than God Almighty.
Jesus confirms the fact that Satan is in charge here on earth in John 12:31 and 14:30 when he calls him the “prince of this world,” and the Apostle Paul refers to Satan in 2 Corinthians 4:4 as the “god of this world.” Recall again what Paul says of the fallen angels in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The book of Revelation introduces a document, a scroll that is sealed with seven seals. This scroll is deemed by many bible scholars to be something like the Title Deed to the earth. When Jesus takes this scroll twenty-four heavenly elders sing a song, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10). It was the death of Jesus Christ which “purchased men for God.” God would not have used the death of His Son to purchase mankind unless we were not in His possession.
The opening of this seven-sealed scroll signifies the beginning of the events of the end of the age and the rise of the Antichrist. As each seal is opened a judgement is made upon the earth. The judgement of the seventh seal is felt through the blowing of the seven trumpets. Finally after the blowing of the seventh trumpet voices in heaven proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Only after the blowing of the seventh trumpet is the earth claimed as a legal possession of the Lord God and of Jesus Christ. Until then this earth will still be the property of Satan and the fallen angels.
Final Words
In the interest of brevity much information has been left out, such as the move to digital money, chip implants and the Mark of the Beast, the predictions involving Israel, a rebuilt Temple, and two Middle Eastern wars, expectations by some cults of “alien contact” and plans to build a “space embassy” in Jerusalem by the Raelians, etc. Despite it’s brevity it is hoped that this article has succeeded in its simple task of presenting at least some of the concrete data which supports the Christian expectation of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Christians are not crazy, they are simply informed. In presenting this article to members of the media it now becomes the responsibility of the media to carry out their duties of investigating the data (all of it clearly documented), and in continuing this process of informing the general public. The words of the disciple Peter, as written down almost two thousand years ago, make a fitting close,
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”
2 Peter 1:16-19
“…There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’ For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water… But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:3-9
I think He’s coming back.
Peter Goodgame www.redmoonrising.com
*The Red Moon will be a clear sign of the end of the age,
as predicted in Joel 2:31 and shown in Revelation 6:12.
“A 21st Century Defense…” may be freely reproduced in whole or in part, without credit to the author.
http://www.redmoonrising.com/21Defense/defense.htm
Note to readers. I am a friend of the writer of this article Peter Goodgame. I interviewed him when I used to do radio. I have the raw interview but have lost the produced show of the interview. But I will make the raw interview available here on this blog soon. THIS BLOG WILL ALSO HAVE A RADIO
more about ““Red Moon Rising”“, posted with vodpod
NEW AGE ARTICLES with relevant videos.
The New Age Movement: What Christians Should Know by Dr. Dale A. Robbins.
New Age Movement W/ Constance Cumbey (hidden dangers of the rainbow) video with article
The New Age/Old Occult Conspiracy
The Church of Oprah Exposed by Watchman
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What is ‘New Age’ Religion, and Why Can’t Christians Get on Board?
Barbara Curtis
Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
If you haven’t run into it before, it would be hard to avoid it now. Oprah’s rolling out the red carpet for the New Age: a weekly online class with New York Times bestselling guru Eckhart Tolle and a daily broadcast with Marianne Williamson, whose Course in Miracles was beckoning seekers thirty years ago when I was tripping through the wonderland of discovering my own divinity and wielding the powers of the universe to create my own reality.
Ah, but I didn’t know Jesus back then – that is, I didn’t know him as the Son of God. I knew him only through my guru, who taught that Jesus was a great spiritual master and who blended quotes from the New Testament with quotes from the Bhagavad-Gita to produce a spiritual foundation for people like me – too hip, too cool, too sophisticated to tie themselves to the narrow-minded thinking of Christianity.
As someone plucked out miraculously from the New Age, I can only hope that Christians who love and trust Oprah will not blur the lines of their faith. Oprah has stated that though she was raised as a Baptist, she no longer believes that Jesus is the only way to reach God. It sounds so much more rational and compassionate, doesn’t it?
Why can’t we all just get along?
There are questions we don’t have the answers to. And there are questions that are not seeking an answer, but rather opening a door leading to “a wider path” – questions like the one posed long ago: “Hasn’t God said that you could eat of every tree of the garden?”
The New Age is based on concepts that sound almost irresistible. Like Eve, some hear the spiels of modern gurus like Tolle and Willamson and begin to think the faith of their fathers is too rigid, too narrow – that God would never impose an “irrational” boundary between us and “full knowledge of the spiritual realm.”
Sometimes the lie creeps in subtly as Christians begin to research natural or holistic medicine – alternatives which can be very God-honoring but for years were shunned by Christians, thus becoming New Age territory by default. Or a doctor may recommend yoga or meditation to reduce stress. No matter how uplifting and innocent some New Age practices appear, Christians need discernment in these areas, just as at the seashore they need to know where the undertow begins.
The more we understand the distinctions between New Age religion and Christianity, the less vulnerable we are ourselves and the better able to address the confusion of people who may be – as I once was – earnestly seeking the truth.
What exactly is the New Age? Impossible to narrow down, the New Age is actually a vast smorgasbord of beliefs and practices. Each New Ager fills his tray with whatever assortment fits his appetite. All is liberally seasoned with self-centeredness. It’s really a Have-It-Your-Way religion – thus its modern appeal.
Although there are many branches of New Age thought – ranging from meditation to firewalking – they stem from an ancient stock. The roots of the New Age tree spread around the globe to India. One might think that the desperate, degraded human condition of a land dominated by Hinduism would speak louder than words about the truth of the religion. But New Agers seem blind to the contradiction.
Instead the typical New Ager believes:
- God is in everything (pantheism)
- All things are one (monism)
- Man is God
- Mind creates reality
- One’s own experience validates the truth
New Agers do not believe in evil. Therefore, they do not accept man’s problem as separation by sin from God. Instead, they believe that each of us has forgotten his or her own divinity. Therefore, the New Age solution is to seek “higher consciousness” through meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, diet, crystals, channeling. spirit guides, and more. Each of these diverse practices has the same purpose: to awaken the god in man.
While these practices may seem too far out to pose much of a threat to those abiding in the truth, Christians need to be on guard. In the past twenty years, New Age influence has been steadily creeping into our culture in schools, corporations, and doctors’ offices. Since Star Wars, movies have become dominated by New Age spirituality. Reincarnation, karma, the cosmic consciousness – all these once obscure ideas have become commonplace.
A true understanding of New Age practices makes one thing clear: Eastern practices cannot be blended into Christianity to produce something better. New Agers are Universalists, believing that all paths lead to God. They fault Christians for being intolerant and narrow-minded. But God’s word anticipates this: “Enter the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13, NIV)
The good news is that, in a way, the New Ager’s broad acceptance holds the key to getting him back on the straight and narrow. Most New Agers hold Jesus in high regard, believing Him to be a great spiritual teacher, or guru. Many study the words He spoke, although they put a different spin on them.
How can we reach those under such subtle deception? The answer is Jesus Himself. Since Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” He Himself can be the common ground on which the New Ager and the Christian can meet, though one stands in darkness and one in light.
Here is a five-step approach to discussing Jesus with new Agers:
1. Whom do you believe Jesus is?
2. Whom did Jesus say He is?
- The Son of God (John 11:4)
- “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
3. What did Jesus say about other spiritual paths?
- “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Jesus was either who he said He was or He was a fraud. Given His claims, we can’t logically believe he was only a great teacher, for He would have been teaching falsehood rather than truth (this is an argument by C. S. Lewis).
5. Jesus alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
New Agers are in a lot of confusion. That’s because they haven’t found the Truth, but only what fits into the spiritual perspective they have constructed. As in the Garden of Eden, the lie has never changed.
But neither has the Truth. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results from sharing with New Agers. In many cases – like my own – when they finally come to Christ, it’s because God had been planting seeds and watering for a long time. Just keep praying and loving and sharing the words of Jesus (from experience, I’d say they really won’t hear much else).
And remember, God loves New Age seekers too!
Barbara Curtis, now a prolific Christian writer, was a New Age seeker for seven years before learning the truth about Jesus Christ in 1987. She lives with her husband Tripp in a rapidly-dwindling nest with 6 of their 12 children in Waterford, Virginia
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WILLIAM COOPER-The New Age Conspiracy.pt1-4
New Age Movement
New Age or Old Occult?*
The New Age Movement (NAM) is both a religious and a social movement. In fact, Western culture is currently experiencing a phenomenal, spiritual, ideological, and sociological shift. It is a religious world view that is alien and hostile to Christianity. It’s a multi-focused, multi-faceted synthesis, in varying degrees, of the Far Eastern, mystical religions, mainly Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Western Occultism, adapted to and influenced by Western, materialistic culture. It sometimes appears in secularized forms.
Prominent expressions of the NAM were carried on into more modern times in Europe and America by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), transcendentalists like Thoreau, Emerson, and Wordsworth (early 1800s), and Theosophy introduced by Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) (The New Age Rage, pp. 22-24). The decade of the sixties witnessed a revival of Eastern mysticism as traditional values were being challenged. Zen, Carlos Castañada, the Beatles, Transcendental Meditation, and yoga all became popular.
The New Age Movement consists of an incredibly huge and well organized network consisting of thousands of groups, trusts, foundations, clubs, lodges, and religious groups whose goal and purpose is to prepare the world to enter the coming “Age Of Aquarius.” A small sampling of only a few of the organizations involved would include: Amnesty International, Zero Population Growth, California New Age Caucus, New World Alliance, World Goodwill, The Church Universal and Triumphant, The Theosophical Society, the Forum, Planetary Initiative for the World We Choose, the Club of Rome, Church Universal & Triumphant, Christian Science, and the Unity School of Christianity. This list, by no means all inclusive, demonstrates the diversity of organizations operating in economic, political, and religious spheres of influence.
The New Age movement is not a unified, traditional cult system of beliefs and practices, even though its roots derive from Eastern religions and the occult. It has no official leader, headquarters, nor membership list, but instead is a network of groups working toward specific goals. One of its main goals is to bring to the forefront a one-world leader who is called “The Christ” or “Maitreya.” Nevertheless, it is estimated that there are millions of worldwide followers of various New Age practices and/or holders of one or more of the major beliefs of the New Age.
The NAM has gained significant influence, affecting almost every area of the culture — sociology, psychology, medicine, the government, ecology, science, arts, education, the business community, the media, entertainment, sports, and even the church. The movement expresses itself in widely divergent and various mutated forms, from the blatantly obvious to the subtle. It is expressed in organized religious forms such as Christian Science, Unity, and even forms of Witchcraft. Yet, it shows up in secular forms as well, in various human potential seminars, and much in between, i.e., transcendental meditation, some alternative holistic health practices, and certain curriculum in public (and private) schools.
The book Networking lists over 1,200 organizations, centers, cooperatives, groups, communities, and networks in fields ranging from health care and spiritual growth, through politics, economics, and ecology, to education, communications, personal growth, and intercultural relations. There is hardly any area of human interest that does not have some people somewhere exploring it from a New Age point of view. Due to the lack of a central organization and the diversity of emphasis adhered to by the various New Age groups, there are literally hundreds of publications. Some popular publications and journals are New Age Journal, Body Mind Spirit, Yoga Journal, Gnosis, East West, Noetic Sciences, and Omega.
The major goal of the New Age Movement is to bring peace to the world upon entering the Age of Aquarius. This will be accomplished primarily through the leadership of “the Christ” (also known as “Lord Maitreya”), who will supposedly come to teach us to live at peace with each other. Some of the other stated goals of the movement are to establish a World Food Authority, World Water Authority, World Economic Order, and an entirely New World Order. It should be noted here that one of the requirements for a person to enter the New Age is that he or she will have to take what is known as a “Luciferic Initiation,” a kind of pledge of allegiance to the Christ of the New Age and to the New World Order. The primary goals of the movement then, are to prepare the world to receive the Christ and to enter the Age of Aquarius, thus establishing the New World Order.
The New Age Movement professes a broad-minded openness to all religions, but its basic underlying philosophy represents a carefully calculated undermining of Judeo-Christian beliefs with various combinations of gnosticism and occultism. [Gnosticism is an ancient world-view stating that Divine essence is the only true or highest reality, and that the unconscious Self of man is actually this essence. It is through intuitional discovery, “visionary experience or initiation into secret doctrine” (not the plenary revelation of propositional truth in the Bible), that man becomes conscious of this true Self (Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 10, 1968, p. 506; New Bible Dictionary, J.D. Douglas, ed., pp. 473-474).] It bears a remarkable resemblance to the apostate world religion that H.G. Wells claimed as his own and predicted would one day take over the world. It also fits the description of “The Plan” for establishing the new world government that is described in various psychic communications from alleged E.T.’s and ascended masters. There is one more connection: the New Age Movement fits the description of the Antichrist’s religion — a rejection of the Judeo-Christian God and the declaration that Self is God. (Source: The Seduction of Christianity.)
Douglas R. Groothuis, author of Unmasking the New Age and Confronting the New Age, identifies six distinctives of New Age thinking: (1) all is one; (2) all is God; (3) humanity is God; (4) a change in consciousness; (5) all religions are one; and (6) cosmic evolutionary optimism. Norman Geisler details 14 primary “doctrines” of New Age religions: (1) an impersonal god (force); (2) an eternal universe; (3) an illusory nature of matter; (4) a cyclical nature of life; (5) the necessity of reincarnations; (6) the evolution of man into Godhood; (7) continuing revelations from beings beyond the world; (8) the identity of man with God; (9) the need for meditation (or other consciousness-changing techniques); (10) occult practices (astrology, mediums, etc.); (11) vegetarianism and holistic health; (12) pacifism (or anti-war activities); (13) one world (global) order; and (14) syncretism (unity of all religions). [HJB]
The New Age also encompasses a wide array of notions: spiritualism, astrology, bioenergy, Chi energy, chakras, nirvana, Christ-consciousness, Native American Spirituality, Prajna, out-of-body/near-death experiences, reincarnation, and the occult disciplines, as well as unorthodox psychotherapeutic techniques and pseudoscientific applications of the “healing powers” of crystals and pyramids. Some commonly used New Age terms are: guided imagery, reincarnation; positive thinking; human potential; holistic; holographic; synergistic; unity; oneness; transformation; awakening; networking; communal sharing; one-world/globalism/new world order (i.e., one language, one government, one currency, one religion); cosmic consciousness; etc. (See New Age Dictionary below.)
It is important for Christians to recognize even the most disguised forms of the New Age Movement. Some New Age practices are: rebirthing; inner healing; biofeedback; yoga; I Ching; reflexology; black and white magic; fire-walking; trance-channeling; therapeutic touch; transpersonal psychology; witchcraft; parapsychology; Magick; Tai Chi; Shamanism; hypnotherapy; acupuncture/acupressure; TM; martial arts; Zen; Relaxation; Erhard Seminar Training (est); Silva Method (formerly Silva Mind Control); visualization; etc. Some prominent New Agers are: Alice Bailey, Alvin Toffler, Dr. Barbara Ray, Benjamin Creme, Levi Dowling, George Trevelyan, Fritjof Capra, Abraham Maslow, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ruth Montgomery, Shirley MacLaine, J.Z. Knight, Marilyn Ferguson, David Spangler, Jeremy Rifkin, Norman Cousins, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, John Denver, George Lucas, and Norman Lear.
Many New Agers attach great importance to artifacts, relics, and sacred objects, all of which can be profitably offered for sale: Tibetan bells, exotic herbal teas, Viking runes, solar energizers, colored candles for “chromotherapy,” and a plethora of occult books, pamphlets, instructions, and tape recordings. Crystals are the favorite New Age object. These are not only thought to have mysterious healing powers, but are considered programmable, like a computer, if one just concentrates hard enough. Other New Age objects would include the rainbow; butterfly; pyramid; triangle; eye in triangle/pyramid; unicorn; Pegasus (winged-horse); swastika; yin-yang; goathead on pentagram; concentric circles; rays of light; crescent moon; etc.
New Age music is a term applied to the works of various composers and musicians who strive to create soothing audio environments rather than follow song structures. Born of an interest in spirituality and healing in the late 1970s, it is often used as an aid in meditation. The defining features of New Age music are harmonic consonance, contemplative melodies, nonlinear song forms, and uplifting themes. New Age performers may use traditional ethnic, acoustic, electric, or electronic instruments, or even sounds from nature. New Age music is meditative, almost invariably instrumental style with roots in Oriental, jazz, and classical music; often derivative, New Age compositions can sound like minimalist music or like lush evocations of the natural environment. Prominent New Age musicians include electronic-music pioneer Brian Eno, multi-instrumentalist Kitaro; solo-piano artist George Winston, vocalist Liz Story; harpist Andreas Vollenweider, and electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.
Athletes are using guided imagery. Graduate schools of business are invoking Zen, yoga, and tarot cards in teaching courses on creativity in business (e.g., Stanford Graduate School of Business). Stock market gurus employ Fibonacci numbers and “wave theory” in their forecasting, both based upon astrology. Even some churches teach that the best way to get to know God is to visualize Christ, ignoring that visualization is a powerful occult device. (Visualizing an entity, even God or Christ, ultimately puts one in touch with a masquerading demon.)
In summary, the term “New Age” is an informal term derived from astrology, which indicates that this earth, if not the cosmos, is on the verge of an evolutionary transition from the Piscean Age (rationality) to the Aquarian Age of spirituality, bliss, and harmony of all things. Even though it is undergoing a significant revival, the “New Age” is hardly new. In fact, it is very old. A better term would be the “Old Occult.”
Keeping in mind that the myriads of New Age groups are quite eclectic, drawing from several religious traditions mentioned earlier, the following is a general description of the more prominent unifying themes of the NAM. i.e., the highlights of what New Agers believe concerning their source of authority, God, Christ, sin and salvation, good and evil, Satan, and future life:
1. Source of Authority. New Agers claim no external source of authority — only an internal one (“the god within”). They believe the individual is the standard of truth, saying that “truth as an objective reality simply does not exist” (Shirley MacLaine, It’s All in the Playing) (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21; Matt. 5:18).
[HJB]
2. God. New Agers confuse the Creator with His creation and think that God is part of creation, not separate from it. They borrow from Eastern religions the belief in monism — that “all is One” — only one essence in the universe, everyone and everything being a part of that essence. Everything is a different form of that essence (energy, consciousness, power, love, force). But the belief in monism is really Hinduistic pantheism (all is God). New Agers view God as an impersonal life force, consciousness, or energy (M. Ferguson, Aquarian Conspiracy, p. 382; S. Gawain, Living In the Light, pp. 7-8) (e.g., the “Star Wars Force”), rather than a Person. They believe that every person and thing is “intertwined” with God (evolving spiritually to the state of “the Christ” being), and use Luke 17:21 (“the kingdom of God is within you”) to support this idea (despite the fact that “within you” in this passage means “in your midst”). They claim every human has a divine spark within him because of being part of the divine essence. The state of God is called by various terms among different New Age groups, i.e., God-consciousness, Universal Love, Self-Realization, the I AM, Higher Self, Brahman, Nirvana, etc. New Agers are obviously part of a religion of idolatry and self-worship.
[HJB]
3. Jesus Christ. A major idea in New Age thinking is that of the “Christ Consciousness.” In other words, Christ is an office rather than an individual, such as Jesus, whom Christians know to be THE CHRIST. This idea of “Christ Consciousness” asserts that Jesus was not the only Christ, but that He equipped Himself to receive the “Christ Consciousness” (i.e., He was a great “spiritual master” who attained Christ Consciousness), as supposedly also did Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammed. [This is an old occult Gnostic teaching which stems from the ancient Babylonian mystery religions. New Agers also reinvent the historical Jesus by claiming that he spent 18 years in India (during His “silent years”) absorbing Hinduism and the teachings of Buddha.] New Agers believe that Jesus received the Christ Consciousness at His baptism, and that it left Him at His crucifixion.
4. Sin and Salvation. There is no place for the concept of sin in the New Age. There can be no sin because there is no transcendent God to rebel against. There are no rules or absolute moral imperatives. New Agers have a “New Thought” view of sin, which knows nothing of a representative man (Adam) by whose sin all men sinned. Nor does New Thought teach that there is any original sin, but that man’s true essence is divine and perfect. Indeed, it finds nothing which is of the nature of sin. Instead, it speaks of “troublesome desires” which appear to be natural human impulses which direct men from consciousness to their identity with God, and, therefore, are troublesome but hardly sinful. Since New Agers believe that each person is god, thereby having endless potential for self-improvement, sin is denied as the Bible defines it (man being inherently sinful and utterly depraved — Rom. 5:12). Sin is merely ignorance of one’s “inner divinity.” Because sin does not exist, there is no need for repentance or forgiveness, and Jesus did not die for our sins. They think that any perceived lack that man might have is merely a lack of enlightenment, thereby eliminating the need of salvation or a Savior. [In fact, salvation is not even an issue for New Agers. The soul is part of the universe and never dies. It is reborn or reincarnated in different physical bodies in a succession of future lives. The good or bad “karma” earned in the present lifetime determines one’s subsequent incarnation. Humans should seek to progress to higher states of consciousness and higher planes of existence. There are many different paths to the goal of spiritual perfection. No one path is the only correct path. The assumed cycle of reincarnation and karma presupposes a salvation by works, contrary to the principle of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).]
5. Man’s Destiny. The salvation of the world depends upon human beings. When enough people harmonize their positive energy and turn their thoughts to peace, the world will be cleansed or negative elements and New Age ideals will be realized in an era of spiritual enlightenment. Since man is intrinsically divine and perfect, his only real problem is ignorance of that fact. Man has a perception of finiteness which is, in reality, an illusion (Ken Keyes, Jr., Handbook to Higher Consciousness, pp. 125-29). Salvation in the New Age is for man to become enlightened through experiential knowledge (gnosis). New Age groups offer various occultic techniques to enable individuals, and ultimately the world, to evolve into this oneness (unitive) consciousness (James Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy: An Experimental Guide, pp. 243-60). These techniques may include altered states of consciousness (often transcendental meditation), yoga, crystals, channeling (spirit guides), psychics, past-life therapy, acupuncture, etc.
6. Good and Evil. Mimicking the Eastern religions, New Agers distort the distinction between good and evil. They believe that because “all is One,” ultimately there is neither good nor evil. They think that a person can transcend his consciousness and go beyond the bounds of moral distinctions, so that even murder sometimes becomes an acceptable way of serving one’s gods (e.g., Charles Manson). [HJB]
7. Satan. The traditional view of Lucifer as the devil or Satan is clearly absent in New Age literature. Rather, he is described as a mighty being of light and the “Ruler of Humanity,” as Alice Bailey, foundational apostle and leading writer of the New Age Movement, puts it. As to the history and achievements of Lucifer, Benjamin Creme, a leading lecturer and proponent of the New Age, says, “Lucifer came from the planet Venus 18.5 million years ago; he’s the director of our planetary evolution, he is the sacrificial lamb, and the prodigal son. Lucifer made an incredible sacrifice, a supreme sacrifice for our planet.”
8. Future Life (Reincarnation). New Agers believe in the ancient [Hindu] Eastern religious concept of reincarnation — that through a long process of rebirths, man can eventually reach spiritual perfection (cf. Heb. 9:27). New Agers often place animal rights above human rights, because many New Agers believe animals are reincarnated souls. They also teach the Hindu principle of “karma” — that what a person sows in this life, he will reap in the next life in his reincarnated state. This belief in reincarnation has led to believing in the power of “spirit guides” or “channels” — those who allow spirits from another dimension to speak through their bodies. [HJB] These entities always seem to repeat the three-fold error: (1) There is no death, (2) man is god, (3) knowledge of self is salvation and power (Brooks Alexander, Spiritual Counterfeits Project). New Agers misrepresent church history, the doctrines of Christianity, and often twist Scripture to support the idea that original Christianity taught reincarnation. They wrongly argue that the early church suppressed the doctrine and censored its teaching (Kenneth Ring, Heading Toward Omega, p. 158).
Endnotes
“Old Occult” — The New Age Movement is a modern revival of very ancient, divergent, religious traditions and practices. The actual original root is squarely centered in Genesis 3:1-5, and reverberates throughout the movement’s continued historical expressions. In the original lie, Satan questions God’s word, His authority and benevolent rule (v. 1), disputes that death results from disobedience (v. 4), and claims that through the acquisition of secret or Gnostic wisdom man can be enlightened and can be “like God” (v. 5).
Many of the occult practices and beliefs revived by the modern NAM were a part of very early pagan cultures. Many practices common to the NAM, such as witchcraft/sorcery, spiritism, divination, (clairvoyance; seeing the future), necromancy (consulting the dead), and astrology, are clearly and strongly condemned in Scripture (Deuteronomy 18: 9-17; Isaiah 47: 9-15). These and other occultic practices were spread through the ancient magic and mystery religions of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and most notably, the Assyrian-Babylonian culture (Ancient Empires of the New Age, pp. 15-62). Noting the scope of its continuing presence, the Bible informs Christians of Babylon’s eschatological implications. The lie of Genesis 3 is significantly developed in Babylon (Isaiah 47) and continues to its ultimate state of development, revealed as Satan’s one-world system at the end of the age (Revelation 17-18).
Three major world religions whose beliefs and practices are entwined with the NAM are Hinduism, a product of 5,000 years of development, Buddhism, circa 560 B.C., and Taoism, circa 500 B.C. (Eerdman’s Handbook to the World’s Religions, pp. 170, 221, 252). Another prominent occultic influence in Europe was Druidism, the religion of the Celts, which extended from 300 B.C. into the middle ages (Ibid., pp. 114-19). [Return to Text]
Reincarnation — Christians should be able to demonstrate that the Bible does NOT teach reincarnation. When Jesus calls John the Baptist “Elijah,” He is clearly speaking metaphorically. Luke 1:17 demonstrates that John was filling the office of Elijah, fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6. In fact, Elijah was seen with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-3. The meaning of the resurrection is the opposite of reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27; 1 Cor. 15:12-28). Point out that if God is an impersonal force, then love and forgiveness are not possible. These are personal attributes as opposed to impersonal karmic law. Fundamentally, intercessory prayer is absolutely necessary. The battle for the souls of men is won through God’s grace, intervening and drawing them to Himself. [Return to Text]
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