The Federal Reserve Bank is the Central bank that publishes the US dollar. It is not a government’s bank but it is owned by the world bankers the most powerful of them is the Rothschild family. They control whole Global Currency System. However what else they need, which is the end goal and what they want to archive by completing their mission…
Religion has caused all the wars throughout history. Or has it?
I was shared this vid from another poster and I really like this vid because it lays out what I’ve been saying for some time now in regards to the cause of wars being religious.
When people say that I usually let them finish and make sure they’ve had to say all that they can say and I step in and “enlighten” them. Wars are NOT caused by religion, its human greed for money, power, land, and ego that causes it.
This article is long but it is very good and answers thoroughly and emphatically the question “Is Christianity and freemasonry compatible, can you be both?
I few years back I did a radio show with this article and some Bill Cooper audio mixes. I will try to find that and get it uploaded soon.
“Mixing Oil with Water”
Pastor Harmon Taylor
I’m going to share with you this morning a sermon entitled “Mixing Oil with Water.” You’ll quickly understand the subject, we’ll be using the Word of God, and many selected scripture portions at the very beginning of this message.
The important thing is to lift up to you a statement of Charles G. Finny, one of the foremost preachers of our day. He was a theologian who accepted Christ in 1821 and served Him until his death in 1875. He fulfilled the pastoral role in several churches. He became one of the most renown professors of systematic theology in all of history. But most of all he served his Lord to the very best he knew how to do, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
He said when faced with a challenge you should do this, every local branch of the Church of Christ is bound to examine this subject which I’m going to be talking about this morning, and pronounce upon this institution according to the best light they can get. God does not allow individuals or churches to withhold action and expression of their opinion until the churches are enlightened as themselves.
I have been involved in Freemasonry. I have been involved in the church of Christ. I have been involved in the reading of His Word. I have been involved in the comparison of the Word of God as I see it in Holy Scripture verses the Word of God as it is TOLD me it is in the ritual of the Masonic Fraternity. Invariably there are words changed. So let us look this morning at mixing oil with water.
I want you to know that this message has been bathed in prayer for more than three months now and intensively bathed in the prayers of literally hundreds of Christians and indeed in this hour there are more than a hundred Christians praying for this message to be heard and accepted. This message is being taped and it will be broadcast in the United States and Canada with distribution points in both locations, and it will be in an upcoming issue of an Evangelistic magazine of one of this nations’ greatest evangelists reaching Born-Again Christians literally, around the world. That is how much God wants this message out. I thought none of this, I asked only for prayer and these events came to pass for the glory of God.
(Praise song)
The hour is at hand, the Spirit of God is in this place and we have been called to proclaim His Word. Hallelujah! Before I begin I’m going to ask Hal if you’d pray for me and for this congregation.
Heavenly Father, we come before your mighty thrown as your children in and of Your Word, asking that you bless our Pastor, Bring Your Holy Spirit mightily through him this day in the message that he has for us. Help him say what You want to be said, and bring that message to this congregation that we may hear and learn in our hearts and our minds, and put it to use, what we hear this day, and learn this day in our daily lives. Move Your Holy Spirit this very morning that we may be strengthened O Lord, I ask it all in Jesus Name, Amen
Thank you.
We share from Psalms 118 Vrs.22. We’re going to be sharing several of these and I’ll try and move through them as quickly as possible so maybe its not a good Sunday to pick up your Bible and try and keep up, because I want you to hear the messages. The stone, the very stone which the builder rejected, It has become the capstone. The Lord has done this, it is a marvelous thing in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Then, moving over to Mt. 5, Vrs. 33-37, Jesus is speaking about perjury and retaliation being forbidden. Again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep your oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, says Jesus, do not swear at all, Either by heaven, for it is Gods’ thrown, or by the earth for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king, and do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair either white or black, simply let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond that comes from the evil one.
These are not my words now, these are the words of Jesus.
And then moving over to Mt. 24, Vrs. 1&2. Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came to Him to call attention to its buildings. Do you see all these things? Jesus asked. I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one of them will be thrown down. He was speaking of the temple.
Then, moving over to I Timothy, the third chapter and verse sixteen. First Timothy 3:16, You’ve heard of John 3:16, that’s an easy one to remember, I Timothy 3:16, hear the word of scripture, maybe its 2nd Timothy 3:16, Yes, 2 Timothy 3:16. All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. This scripture is saying that its meant for more than just love, love, love. Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
2 Timothy 4, Words that the Lord has laid upon my heart, and reinforced so many times, before I ever spoke them as a section of scripture that the Lord was dealing with me, my daughter placed that scripture in my hand. Just the lettering, 2 Timothy 4, 2 thru 5. No, hers was 1 thru 8, but I’ve selected 2 thru 5. And this is Paul’s message to Timothy, a pastor. And it is a message to every pastor, it is a message that certainly God has for this pastor I know that I know that I know! that this is the scripture verse that God has for me, Preach the Word. Be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instructions for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine, instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an Evangelist, discharge the duties of your ministry. That is Gods’ call upon me and that is what I am trying to do. And then one other scripture verse, again relating back to Mt. 5. This is in James, Chapter 5 and verse 12.
Above all my brothers, do not swear. Not by heaven, nor by earth, nor by anything else. Let your yes, be yes and your no, no—or you will be condemned. God have mercy on us as we share together this morning around these scripture verses.
A little more than a year now we have been together. God has been moving dramatically in my life, He’s moved dramatically just to bring me to Clifton Park United Methodist Church. We have worked together as a pastor and people and in that time one word had stood out above all others in my Christian walk, and it is this; Be careful, Pastor, of deception. As God has moved in my life in these months, I’ve been able to see how easy it is for me and for others to be deceived and drawn away from the Christian walk. It was in October of last year that I shared with you the roots of Halloween and how it was brought into sink with the Christian holiday of All Saints Day.
I shared with you the evil of that; some rebuked it but it was the call of a pastor to preach Gods’ Word. Some of you learned, some of you were surprised. I was even more surprised when, almost a month to the day of that administrative council meeting a brother in Christ came to me, He’d been praying for four months-remember Nehemiah? Remember how I came here through four months of prayer? This brother prayed for four months before he came to me, to talk about my involvement in a cult! Bob, what are you talking about? Me? involved in a cult? I’m in the United Methodist Church! And then we began to share together. I realized that while I was sharing with you that you needed to be careful about dabbling in the occult even if it were just the dressing in a costume, here I was in a full blown cult.
It’s not easy for me to share that with you, for what you might think and how could I be so stupid. I’ve shared with others and actually had Christians laugh at me. Please, don’t laugh. But Listen. As a pastor, as a preacher, as a child of The King, I must preach the word without fear of mans’ criticism. I must preach it with the reverential fear of the love of God for the souls of all men.
This morning we will deal with a topic that may be uncomfortable to some of you. To others, it may tell you something you already suspected. To others, it will confirm what you already knew. At the very start I need to assure you that my object is not to attack or challenge any individual man, woman, or child. What I share with you has little to do with a man or woman or child but it affects the lives of many men, women, and children. And it is that evil that I speak against this day.
I am not attacking a person but I am seeking to lead men and women into a closer walk with the One, True God. The Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I do this in the name of Christ for the glory of God and hopefully with a boldness of a Charles G. Finny, a nineteenth century Evangelist who spoke as God gave him utterance.
First, let’s look at the dictionary definition of Immoral. Webster defines it as conflicting with generally and traditionally held moral principles. Concerning the fraternity of Freemasons my Christian friends, their benevolence, their moral principles in general, Charles G. Finny accurately states the following: “Masonry does not recognize the Bible as any higher authority with Masons than the sacred books of heathen nations nor the Koran of Mohammed or the Verti of Hindu. That Freemasonry recognizes all religions is equally valid. That so far as Masonry is concerned, it matters not at all what the religion of its adherents is, provided they are not Atheists.”
To join the Masonic Fraternity I could ask you to raise your hands as to how many of you think that the Masonic Fraternity is a Christian organization and probably one third of you would raise you hand, until you think about it or remember that there are Jews and many others in that organization, and the reason for that is that it requires a belief in only one god. Any god! Just one.
I’m not the first to stand up and to speak out against it. I’m just, perhaps, the latest. I’m going to share with you the names, of a remarkable list of great Christian men and statesmen who renounce the lodges and opposed them, and this is particularly important to you if you happen to be upset and just waiting to talk to the district superintendent, because one of the most illustrious figures in religion to speak out against Masonry was a man by the name of John Wesley. Yeah, I’m going back to Methodism. Right back to the very root. That man who left his church and preached the salvation message to miners in England. Yes, John Wesley, took a stand against Masonry. Alexander Campbell, Daniel Webster, Wendell Phillips, Chief Justice Charles Marshall, Charles Summner, John Hancock, Horace Greeley, Dwight L. Moody, R. A. Tory, Timothy Dwight, Charles Finny, Charles Blanchard, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Madison, Amos Wells, Simon Peter Long, James M. Gray. A long list of men who spoke out against Masonry.
Listen to the words of Dwight L. Moody to pastors.
“I don’t see how any Christian most of all a Christian Minister can go into these secret lodges with unbelievers. They say they have more influence for good but I say they can have more influence for good by staying out of them and then reproving their evil deeds. Abraham was more influence for good in Sodom than Lot was for good. True reformers separate themselves from the world rather than becoming a part of it. But Dwight L. Moody, some say, if you talk that way you’ll drive out all the members of secret societies out of your meetings and out of your churches, “What if I did?” said Dwight L. Moody, better men will take their places. Give them the truth anyway and if they would rather leave their churches than their lodges the sooner they get out of the churches, the better. Those are the words of an Evangelist, a Prophet, Dwight L. Moody. “I would rather have ten members,” he said, “who are separated from the world than a thousand such members. Come out of your lodges. Better be one with God that a thousand without Him.”
Concerning a Christian as a member of a Masonic society we have this from the very Word of God. Rev. 18:4-5. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying Come out of her my people that Ye not be partakers of her sin and you receive not her plagues for her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
There are many Christians, even ministers of the Gospel of Christ who support the adherence to the teachings of the Masonic lodge. I have been a Mason, I have been a past master of my lodge, I received the Master of the year award in my district for increasing the lodge attendance by 259% over the previous year. Yes, I was committed to it. I’m ashamed of it now. But it took a lot of time from my church, from my family, from my sleep. I did the best job I knew how to do. I was appointed a New York State Grand Chaplain; there’s sixty-some in the state. I was one of them and I was selected personally by the Grand Master because of my leadership and because of my service. Normally it goes thru a district committee where Right Worshipfuls get together, but they were saving me for district deputy Grand Master.
I was out of Gods’ will but I think within His permissive will. I guess if I could have known Gods’ words to me then since I wouldn’t come out of Masonry, was, then I’ll put you in a place where I can use you. And so the Grand Master Personally appointed me to that post. I served him as best I could. But what it says or should say to you is that I speak with the authority of the Word of God and I speak with the full knowledge of the rituals. I have performed the degreed in the blue lodge, two of the three, I have seen them all, observed, and been a part of them. There is a real question of what can be done with the great numbers of professed Christians including Christian pastors who are in the Masonic Fraternity. But I tell you, I pray for them every single day.
Let me just share with you what one pastor said. I wrote an Editorial in the newspaper and some of you heard it and others came to you and said, Well, what’s going on with your pastor, is he off his rocker? All I did was commend my denomination in England. That was August 6 Editorial in the Gazette, and the Roman Catholic church for taking a stand against Masonry and your coverage. I write as one who is well informed and not confused, and in no need of help concerning this matter.
Stanley Maxwell quoted as saying “The lodge honors Jesus Christ as it honors Socrates, Buddha, Mohammed. Christians and others need to know that Masonry honors none of these. They aren’t mentioned in any form of honor in the Fraternity. Their names aren’t mentioned and neither is the name of my Savior Jesus Christ. There is no place in ritual of the Masonic Fraternity where Jesus is acknowledged as “Your Savior”. What was the response by a man who is chairman of a district board of ministry that I answer to, to be able to stand in this Pulpit, a Grand Chaplain, Mr. Taylor has expressed his biased opinion, and his faith seems to have been adversely affected.
What men will do. What men will do in order to protect their fraternity. Even to the putting down of a fellow pastor. Charles G. Finny, and this is his book, he was a Mason, came out of it when he accepted Christ, and he wrote a whole book on it. The air had almost been darkened by the immense number of falsehoods that have been circulated by Freemasonry to destroy the reputation of every man who has renounced Freemasonry. Anybody come to you and criticized you? You know, in Hagemon, somebody came into an insurance office and told a member of my congregation that its a good thing you got rid of that guy when you did. I’ve told you how I got here. She said to him, We didn’t get rid of him, we wanted to keep him. He left. Do you know that a week after I came out of the Fraternity the man who wrote the History of Masonry gathered together the officers of my lodge, told them what a tragic loss it was, reminded them about my year in a back brace, told them that I’d been on some strong medication and evidently it had affected my mind.
Well I’ll tell you what the medication was. It was two Valium prescribed by the Doctor while I was in the Hospital for two weeks, reduced to half that amount when I got out of the hospital, and that was two years before I made the decision to leave Masonry. That medication is awful slow working! I think any Doctor would be able to document that it didn’t come from that medication. But Hallelujah! He spoke to the Master of my lodge, and you know what happened? A week after I left Masonry, Ralph signed my demit. Before the next meeting, I’ve got it here, I’ll share it with you:
To the Secretary;
I am resigning as a member of Welcome Lodge 829. There is a better light, that light is the light of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In His Word (Jn. 8:12) it says: “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. I have walked in the darkness of Masonry. Today I am ending that darkness and following the One, True, Light, that of God, His Son , and The Holy Spirit.”
Hallelujah! I did more for Jesus Christ by leaving Masonry than I ever did by being in it. and that’s just the beginning, you know what else happened? The next day his son left and gave his testimony! And you know what else happened? That week they had a mid-week prayer meeting in the Church on Wednesday night.
I called up a man who walked by me one day at the Pine View Community Church, and he said to me- “I don’t know how you could be a minister and a Mason.” He was a kind of wimpy kind of guy so I just ignored it, but God didn’t let me forget it. And when I left the Fraternity I came to him, or I called him on the phone and I told him that I’d come out of Masonry and he said “Oh, great! Can I use that as a testimony tonight at worship?”
My gut reaction was no, I want to tell them the next time I get there. But that’s pride Taylor. O.K., you can tell them. He went to that prayer meeting, He shared, there was a guy with his Masonic bible. Big thing like this, has a big Masonic emblem on it. And as he told about this an writing a letter to the Grand Chaplain and leaving Masonry, he pulled the Bible closer to him. Next to him was a dear black lady who learned a long time ago how to really pray. It got to prayer time and she stood up and she started to pray that God would use that letter to lead other men out of the Fraternity by the hundreds. He could take no more of it, He picked up his Bible, he stormed out of the church; This fellow that I’d been talking to saw that Masonic emblem and he said, I’ve offended that brother.
When I got home I was up here in Ministry, didn’t get in until late, my wife knew I wouldn’t be in until late, He said, “Have him call me whatever time he gets in.” I called him, it was after 12:00, now in the morning of the next day, and he said I hear that your Grand Chaplain and you got a letter from a guy that’s leaving Masonry. Do you know anything about it? I said Yeah, I know all about it, I wrote the letter. I gotta talk to you. And so we went down and we ate at the Hilton Hotel. The same place where a brother talked to me, the same exact table. We sat there and we prayed and he told me his testimony. He wanted to know how to get out and what to do. You know, in that week eight men came out of the Fraternity and every single one of them gave a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ I’ve got four of them here with me today. Hallelujah!
What’s happening is that people don’t know. You know why the Masonic Fraternity is a secret organization? Because if they ever showed me that ritual before I went through the door of that lodge, I would have laughed. Then I would have gone home.
I don’t know how other men get into Masonry, I’ll tell you how I got in. I was a pastor to my people in Hagemon, and I slipped up bad. I let the men of my church lead me in an area where I should have been leading them. When I looked out in the congregation there were Masonic lapel pins on all but one of the men in my congregation. I couldn’t get a mens’ group started in my church and now I know why, they were all involved in Masonry, they didn’t have time for another meeting a week. Since I couldn’t get them to join a group, I joined the one they had listed. I asked them and oh, were they thrilled. Were they happy, their minister was going to join.
I had a lady in that church, Marion Campbell, She didn’t like my involvement in Masonry, but I didn’t have to worry about that you see, every time she spoke up these men put her down. When there were some tough times in the church some of those Masons who disagreed with what I was saying supported me because I was a Mason. Now that’s not the reason to support your pastor. It’s easy to get led in.
Finney challenges men like myself. Let Christian men labor with these Masons, Plead with them and endeavor to make them see it is to be their duty to abandon it. He continues; The morality inculcated by Masons is an exclusive, one-sided, selfish affair. In its best estate it is only partiality, and the doing in a very slovenly manner the work of a mutual insurance company.
You see, if you get involved the first person that a Masons’ going to help (and some of you who are Masons can attest to this) If you’re given a choice between giving help to a Mason and somebody else, you help that Mason first, even if the other one is in more need. Let no man deceive you by any means, Masonry claims for itself the power to conduct its disciples to heaven. You do it by your good works, and if you are good in your works, you will get there.
In many places in the ritual it teaches the candidate the observance of Masonic law, principles, and usage’s that will secure for him his salvation. I put a lot of those things in a corner. You ever done that in your house? You put a lot of things in a corner and the house looks pretty neat? But when you pull all that stuff out of the corner, what a mess! That’s what happened with me and Masonry. I stuck the salvation by works in a corner. I stuck some scripture that wasn’t quite right in a corner.
And as I sat down with a Christian brother who prayed for me for four months without my even knowing it, you know one of his prayer partners moved all the way to Carolina?, He called her every week to pray with her for me? That’s the kind of commitment that came to me by a brother and a sister in Christ, that I be led out. Do you know that brother and that woman came to my sons’ graduation because they couldn’t believe that a Mason would be allowed in the Laudenville Community Church pulpit.
Do you know when we met five months later He gave me a copy of that bulletin, wrote down everything, and a little Masonic symbol with a question mark wherever what I said didn’t line up with Masonic ritual. A lot of time, a lot of effort, and that’s what I’m trying to do with others. And I prayed over this message for nearly four months now. “Let no man deceive you for that day shall not come except there come a falling away, first of that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who opposeth and exhalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that as he as god sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is god.”
Not only is Freemasonry a religion, it offers salvation by works. But it also claim the position of God thru its very rituals. In the seventh degree of the Royal Arch Masons there is a representative of the burning bush. I’ll tell you how deep I got into this. I went thru the Scottish Rite, the 4th thru the 32nd degree in Masonry. Some of you may know about the 32nd degree of Masonry, maybe your Dad was a 32nd degree Mason, and you think that’s a pretty good thing.
You know what it takes to be a 32nd degree Mason? Over a Mason? In Albany, $135, and all day Saturday watching six plays performed and maybe you’re selected to participate in one. That’s all it takes. But praise a man for being a 32nd degree Mason and he’s not going to tell you that. I never told anybody that when I was a Mason. The 7th degree of Royal Arch Masons there’s a representation of the burning bush. The candidate is told to take off his shoes for the place where he stands is holy ground. And then the Master of the lodge claims to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What an awful, profane, blasphemous thing this is.
It is my most sincere prayer that our time together today, even though it is running fast, will help you to receive in a spirit of love and compassion what I endeavor to convince you concerning the dangers of the Masonic fraternity. I’ve been there! And I’ll tell you, it is only by the grace of God that I am out of there today!
You ever hear the story of the frog in the water? The frog sits in a pan of water, very content. You put the pan on a hot plate, and begin to turn up the temperature very slowly; and the frog sits there very contentedly-as the temperature rises from 68 to 75 to 80 to 100 to 140 to 180 to 212. You know that that frog will never jump out of that water?
And that’s the way it is with Christians-when they get involved with the wrong things, just a little bit at a time. Then you can get in, and when the water is boiling, you are still there. In my first degree, I wanted OUT! And I knew why I wanted out. Within four years I was doing that degree and bringing another man into Masonry.
The frog-that’s who I was! But God kissed me with His Word, and now I am a child of the King! Does that make me a prince (chuckle)?
What am I trying NOT to do this morning? I am not trying to have any quarrel or controversy with any man, woman or child who happens to be involved in Masonry. I am not disregarding the sensibility of any Mason regarding their pet institution. I do not want to assail them. I only want to point out that there come times in the church when we have the sacrament of Holy Communion and you will find that if Masons have a conflict, that they don’t come to Holy Communion, they go to their Lodge meeting.
There’s a mixed up priority, and it’s that frog syndrome.
What would I wish to do, if possible? I would wish to stop the spread of this great evil in the Church of Jesus Christ! I wish to give you some information, because I have heard from others that you said somebody came to you. But do you know that the two editorials I have put in the newspaper about Freemasonry? Not one member of the church has come to me and asked me about Freemasonry! They go to somebody else who knows nothing and ask “What do you think about that?” Or they go to another Mason and they ask “What do you think about that?”-a Mason to a Mason.
No man has come to me, nor woman, nor child; and asked me, “Why did you say that?” If you’ve got a question, go to your pastor and ask him!
What would I wish to do, if possible? I would wish to stop the spread of this great evil in our church-in the whole church. I wish to arouse young men who are Masons to understand the horrible consequences of their dealings in these solemn oaths. I wish to arouse young men who are not Freemasons to look before they leap. The church, and the Christians have been remiss in suffering a whole generation, including me, to grow up in ignorance of the character of Freemasonry.
No minister ever told me about that.
In the 1800’s Masonry was exposed; and Masons abandoned their lodges for the shame of it. It cost one man, William Morgan, his very life. But for me to lay down my life is gain. That holds no threat to me. This man wrote all of the rituals of Masonry in a book, and you know what Masons did? They kidnapped him from Batavia, NY; moved him out to Niagara; stored him in Ft. Niagara for three days, and then they took him out in a boat. They tied a rope-the Masons would call it a cabletow-around his waist (not quite Masonically) with a weight on it; and gave him one half hour to make his peace with his God. And he pleaded that he might be spared so that he might be able to care for his wife and his children.
These aren’t rumors. This is the deathbed testimony of a man named Howard Vallance; the man who pushed William Morgan off the bow of that boat.
In Masonic history, you know what they call that event, which I see your faces shuddering at? “The Morgan excitement.” How does that get you? They said if he were a drinking man, he’d be a drunk. See, they try to defame and disgrace everybody who doesn’t agree with them.
Oh! And the theme of Masonry is “Tolerance!” We must tolerate one another. Ah, dear brother, you know when you say that prayer as Grand Chaplain, you can’t end it in the name of Jesus because you might offend the Jewish brother. Where’s your tolerance, brothers?
Where’s your tolerance to the fact that the scripture tells us that we come to God the Father through Christ, His Son. You’re telling me to pray an empty prayer! And I remember saying to the Jewish brother-who was eating his ham dinner at the time, and who told me not to pray in Jesus’ name-I told him that I would pray in Jesus’ name, and that when he heard the brief silence after my prayer before I said “Amen” that he could rest assured that I was saying, under my breath, “In Jesus’ name.”
Isn’t that awful? See how far-how hot they had gotten the water around the frog? That he’d say the name of Jesus under his breath? Well, I’m not saying it under my breath anymore! Jesus Christ is my Savior and I’m serving him! That’s why I’m sharing with you!
Masonry claims the souls of men.
Let me tell you a little bit more about Henry Vallance. He was never arrested, never tried for the crime-and in that you find something about Masonry. The justices, the law enforcement officials-they took great pains to conceal, to deceive themselves. John Quincy Adams was president of the United States of America at the time, and he gave a scathing attack against Masonry, when he investigated the events behind it after leaving the presidency.
They even established two false editions of Morgan’s book, and they circulated the false editions and they would bring that false edition over to a Mason who had never read the true book, and show it to him; and he would say, “Why these rituals aren’t correct!” And then he would become the spokesman to prove that the Morgan book was a lie.
Charles G. Finney, as he wrote his book, had a copy of the real book. The Masons could now rightly claim that the book was not correct; but they did not have all the information. They’d been deceived by their own brothers.
But the good news was that following that incident, 45,000 of the 50,000 Masons in this country left their lodges, when the facts became known, to enter it no more. While Christians have slept, the fraternity has once again reared its ugly head; and taken unto itself Christians and ministers of the gospel.
Now how is this public to know what Freemasonry is? How are you to know? First, negatively, you are not going to find out what it is by reading most of the books written by adhering Masons. Because they are not going to tell you the truth-they are not going to tell you their ritual-or the history of their ritual. A couple of men made the mistake and did that. If you call the Grand Lodge of the state of*** on **** in *** and ask them, they’ll give you the names, unless of course they realize that I’ve been using them.
Secondly, you cannot learn about Masonry from the oral testimony of adhering Masons. They’ll tell you anything but the truth, because they need to protect that secret of their society.
Thirdly, Masons who are under an oath not to reveal any of its secrets will not reveal that. Their testimony, therefore, cannot be trusted, and is of no value on the subject of Freemasonry.
How then, are you positively to know about Masonry as the church? Positively, you can learn it from the published and oral testimonies of those who have taken the degrees, such as myself; and have afterwards renounced them, and confessed the error and publicly renounced Masonry.
You can know from these renouncing Masons that they are competent witnesses, they are credible witnesses, when they testify against themselves. And anyone who testifies against himself does not do it lightly. It is given with a certainty of incurring an unrelenting persecution.
Now I ask you, you have heard Masons speak to you about me. What have Masons said to you about me since I have left the fraternity? And the question is answered… They will trample over a man or woman of God to defend their institution.
I told you of the brother who said I was on drugs. What I didn’t tell you is that the police came to his door one night. They’d arrested his son-also a Mason-for peddling drugs. I didn’t tell you that the Masons got together and got him completely off the hook, and he is still a member of the Masonic lodge!
I didn’t tell you about another Mason in Scenectady who spent two months in jail while a 33o Mason while they looked for a Masonic judge to get him off, and then all the records are done away with. He forged money orders, and bounced checks on closed accounts! He’s still a Mason today. You see, Masons are bound to do more than help a brother; they’re to help a brother in distress, and it doesn’t say what kind of distress.
It could be that you’re a little bit out of money and need some food; or it could be that you’ve committed a crime. It really makes no difference. And as you get higher up in the degrees, even treason is allowed!
That means if you’re a Mason and a policeman, and if you abide by the oath of the fraternity; and you’re told to go and arrest another Mason; you call him on the phone and tell him to get out of town before you get to his door. It means that if you’re mugged and before the court and your lawyer is a Mason; and the accused gives the Grand Masonic Hailing Sign of Distress, your lawyer is under oath to flaw your case so that the brother goes free.
If you find a Mason on a jury, and that Grand Masonic Hailing Sign were given, you are going to have a hung jury, if that Mason carries out his oath; and many do!
Adhering Masons have persecuted and still do persecute those who reveal their secrets, just as far as they dare.
Dear Christian friends, I submit to you that this is the highest degree of INtolerance! Witnesses who testify under such circumstances as I have been under are entitled to credit; especially as they could have had no conceivable motive for deceiving the public. When someone asks you the next time, “What’s the matter with your minister?”, you tell them he’s been in the Word of God, okay?
He’s been in the ritual, but that was wrong and God has forgiven him.
Look at the Master Mason degree for a moment; and I’m going to share a little bit about the first degree, too. The Third degree, like those that have gone before, have taken the candidates in blindfolded; their eyes are covered. They can’t see. A rope around their neck! You ever been blindfolded? With a rope around your neck? Close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you don’t know anything that’s going on the other side of the door. What do you think? Comfort and joy?
I went to that Masonic lodge room dressed like I’m dressed today, in a business suit The members of my church were there! Masons! They went into the lodge room and I was told to go into the other room. I get in there, & they closed the door, they told me to take off all my clothes, and put on this cape and this pants that was missing one leg. And the brother stayed there, I didn’t even know that man’s name! And he’s in this small room with me about the size of this platform that I’m on. Then he blindfolded me and put a cabletow, a rope, around my neck.
Then there was a knock on the door, he asked who was there, and the man said that I was a poor, blind, candidate. Desirous of having and receiving a part in the rites, light & benefit of this lodge.
Masons ought to pay attention to the ritual that comes afterwards because I never did. I knew it, I learned it, I memorized it, but I didn’t know what it said.
Dear friend, you know what they were saying about your pastor? a born-again Christian pastor? They were saying as he came through the door of that lodge that he was spiritually blind and they say that about every Christian coming thru the door of that lodge.
They weren’t talking about the blindfold. The Masons sit on the sidelines, new members come in, the blindfold is on, they assume its physical blindness, but the ritual, the words themselves, are talking about spiritual blindness.
I was led to the end of the back of the lodge room, and I know there’s some Masons here, and you can testify to the truth of this, blindfolded, cabletow, and your heart may even be beating a little more rapidly as you hear that senior deacon say that he’s about to apply a sharp instrument to your naked right breast. And you are waiting to get shot with a needle, or feel a knife, you don’t know, but in a split second that feels like an eternity you feel the point of a compass, you know, the kind you make circles with, and then they lead you on! and you are scared!
You don’t think much of any of your friends that are there now. About all you can remember is that you’ve lived thru it. And then you’re told to kneel for the benefit of prayer & they say a prayer, a Godless prayer, and then they ask you in whom you put your trust.
You sure don’t put your trust in any of your congregation there who were Masons and that you know are in that place. You’d like to run out but you don’t know where the door is because they’ve moved you around a couple times and you were blindfolded. And you tell them the only thing you can, in God. They say, your trust being in God is well-founded. Rise, follow your conductor, & fear no danger.
Whew! That felt good! You know what that was? That was the lamb being led to the slaughter.
So I went from there following the ritual very comfortable, a member of my church escorted me thru this, was brought up to the altar and told to kneel, and I was told just how to place my hand on the Bible, Gods’ holy Word, and the oath began.
Are you still willing to take the obligations, say “I”. I did. Pronounce your name in full, and I did.
And repeat after me “In the presence of Almighty God, in this worshipful lodge, of entered apprentice…” and it goes on saying I do promise and swear that I won’t reveal the secrets, that I will help aid and assist a brother & then it gets to all of which, and remember, every person that’s a Mason has done this, every single one, First degree. Your pastor did it too but God forgive me. Hand on the Bible, he said under the ancient penalty having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out and buried in the sand of the sea where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, if I ever reveal the secrets of this lodge. I got secrets greater than that! And I want to make them known.
Jesus Christ is Lord and I’m not bound by any oath that is in violation of His law, and His law says let your yes be yes and do not take any oath lest you come under condemnation!
Now I really don’t care if Masons get upset by that. as long as my God does not condemn me. And every Mason ought to know that too.
The candidates’ hands placed on the Bible in Third degree, binding myself under no less a penalty than having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken thence and burned to ashes & scattered to the four winds of heaven that there might not remain tract, trace, or remembrance of so vile and perfect a wretch if I should violate this, my obligation.
Would you have let me come into this church if you knew I took that oath? Only the Masons would have. God forgive me. And He has. That’s why I speak out! You tell your friends as they come to you and want to know why your pastor has gone off his rocker.
And you can find out and verify everything I’m saying. You think its a secret society. Down in your library you can get the ritual book, you can get the information about Masonry. Here’s a book right here that you can get Freemasonry, the Invisible Cult in our Midst.
Here’s another one, The AntiChrist: The Masonic Society, it’s available. Praise God, shortly there going to be available right here in your Christian bookstore.
Dear Friends, do you think this is a Christian institution? Do you really think your pastor ought to be involved in it? Are you going to be proud to tell others that your pastor was a Mason? Or , are you going to be proud to tell them that he got out?
Dear Mason, are you proud to be a Mason now? As you consider, outside of the lodge room the rituals you’ve taken part in? Do you know the Junior Warden says that he observes the Summit Meridian? That’s sun worship, the Senior Warden observes the sun as it sets in the West at the close of day, and the Worshipful Master observes the sun in the East, there are three candles around the altar, one for the Master of the lodge, one for the sun god, and one for the moon god!
Do you know that one of the passwords to get into one of the York rite bodies is “I AM THAT I AM”!
Do you know who “I AM” is? “I AM” is JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!!!
Do you know that in the Knights’ Templar degree, one of their degrees has a Bible on the altar, a skull on top of that and wine in the skull; and you take a sip. Only one person does this for everybody. Took a sip of the wine, and then part of the obligation was that if he violated that obligation, not only your sins but the sins of the person whose brain resided in the skull, and the sins of Judas Iscariot would be upon you.
No Christian should be a Mason.
I just want to deal with one scripture, the prayer of the Chaplain. I’m going to close in five minutes, I know its been long and I do appreciate, and I hope you understand what I’m saying.
Masonic ritual, the Chaplains’ prayer says “Most Holy and Glorious Lord God, Great Architect of the Universe”, So that’s who you’re talking to, right? “Thou hast promised where two or three are gathered in Thy name, Thou wilt be in the midst.” Does that sound scriptural to you? Well, almost.
The Scripture is, “Where two or three are gathered in MY NAME, I will be in their midst”. And the difference is “Thy” refers to the most holy and glorious lord god, and “MY” refers to JESUS CHRIST!
There’s a big difference. You see, the name of JESUS can’t be mentioned in the lodge room. Not even by a Grand Chaplain to end his prayer.
Dear Christian, is you’re a Mason, I plead with you to hear my words. Run from Freemasonry to save your own soul.
And women, if you’re in a Masonic-related body, the Amaranth, the Eastern Star, the White Shrine, RUN FROM THEM!
If the base and the foundation of Masonry is rotten, you don’t want to be on the fourteenth floor of a building with a crumbling foundation, do you?
Well, let me tell you, its not just the foundation that crumbling, the structure is too.
Did you know that the Eastern Star symbol is the Five-pointed star? You see the Bethlehem star like this. The Masonic symbol, in every other place in the world to my knowledge, certainly in the United States, except New York state, it is like that, two points up. Now I’m going to share with you about this star.
One of the founders of the Eastern Star, the man who wrote all the ritual, Rob Morris, chose that find-pointed star. He selected it for a specific reason out of Mythology; it is the Goat of Mendez! And ladies did you know that the Goat of Mendez is the god of lust? What a jokester that Mason was. How blasphemous! That he would choose a symbol for his wife and his children to be a part of that is the Goat of Mendez, the god of lust.
Well, they don’t think of it that way. Let me show you. In extended debate, in the mid-west, in Michigan, yielded this result on whether or not to change the symbol. This emblem, which has been our symbol, although evil, has been redeemed by the good works of its members. This symbol, although evil, Who said its evil? The Grand Chapter of the State of Michigan! …Has been redeemed by the good works of its members. Salvation mind you is thru Christ alone, NOT THRU GOOD WORKS!
I’m not going to give any altar call this morning, because some people get upset by altar calls in churches too.
I’m not going to give an altar call this morning. I’m going to do it just the reverse. I’m going to call you to run FROM an altar this morning. If you’re a Mason, I’m calling you to run from that Masonic altar.
I’m going to call women in the Eastern Star and the Amaranth to run from their Masonic meeting place, from that altar, get out! Don’t stay for a friend, Don’t stay for a relative. Don’t stay for a Masonic funeral.
Continuance in this cultic, demonic diversion from the Christian walk WILL sentence you to HELL! That’s according to Gods’ Word, not mine. You may not have another day.
If you’re not in, stay out! You see, salvation is not by works as Masons claim. Salvation is only by Gods’ grace through JESUS CHRIST and HIS shed blood. And if you don’t believe that, you’re not a Christian! And if you do believe it, Dear Friend, You should NOT be a Mason!
I really thank you for taking the time & for letting me unburden my heart this morning on this subject. To let you know why I came out of Masonry. I hope you understand the love and concern that compelled me to do that. Yes, at the risk of my very life.
Charles G. Finny documents is his book seven men who have lost their lives. Mark was at the meeting with me at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Association Saturday and he told me he was concerned about a person that was there. Because he was afraid of what might happen.
He doesn’t want to lose his father, but he knows that if, if I should die, I win.
He knows where the Masons are in this congregation this morning. Praise God for it. And he’s been praying all during this service.
You know, when I came out of Masonry, I called my son as he got home from school and told him that I’d left the Masonic Fraternity.
One year after I was elected Grand Chaplain and he stood in the highest place of honor, and placed on my neck the Grand Chaplains jewel, You know what he said? You know what he told me? Dad, I’ve been praying for that for two years.
A son of mine had been praying that I’d come out of Masonry! He even had a video tape to explain Masonry in the house! But because it wasn’t the right time, he let it go.
I called my daughter. I told her that night that I came out of Masonry. You know what she said? I’m glad, Dad. Praise The Lord! I’ve been praying for that for four years! I didn’t come out easy. But I came out with a lot of friends!
Dear Christian Friends, don’t be upset if a member of your family is in Masonry. You pray. If you’re a Mason, hear my words and come out, so the people don’t have to continue to pray for you, year after year after year!
And the people of God said: Amen
http://saintsalive.com/freemasonry/mixingoilwater.html
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This is my interview with researcher and writer Peter Goodgame. In 2005 I went to the Ancient of days bible prophecy conference in Roswell New Mexico, I met Peter and many other really neat people there.
Peter is the author of the book Red Moon Rising; The Apocalypse and the rapture timeline. He also owns the site redmoonrising.com. Peter is an excellent researcher and writer. I have a couple of his articles posted on this blog,,, but most of Peters writings are very detailed and lengthy. BUT they are very worth the time to read. They are just a little too long for this blog.
Here are the Peter Goodgame articles, on this blog and it’s sister blog,,, to encourage you to check out his site and his other prime grade research writings.
Rapture According To New Age Channelers by Peter Goodgame
A 21st Century Defense of Christianity by Peter D. Goodgame
You can listen to the interview @http://www.soundclick.com/how2becomeachristian OR download the interview @ http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=862125
Peter will probably soon come on the How2BecomeAChristian.Info RADIO show,,, live on BlogTalkRadio.com @ http://www.blogtalkradio.com/How2BecomeAChristian
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“Defamation of Religions” Resolution Losing Support at U.N. http://aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=697
An important vote took place at the United Nations on an international religious freedom issue that we have been working on for some time, along with our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ).
We have been working hard to combat a dangerous resolution being considered by the nations of the world. It’s called the “Defamation of Religions” resolution. As we have reported, this resolution does not encourage religious freedom – but if often constrains it and frequently this resolution is used a weapon to silence religious minorities – including Christianity in many countries.
The fact is that the “Defamation of Religions” resolution masquerades as a “tolerance” law. It would target anyone who speaks negatively in any way about Islam. Sharing your faith would become an international crime, punishable by imprisonment or death.
Both our European and American Government Affairs Legal Teams have met with ambassadors from a number of nations — explaining the truth about this resolution and persuading them to either vote “no” or abstain from voting.
And we have some encouraging news to report. The U.N.’s Third Committee voted on the “Defamation of Religions” resolution and here’s the breakout: The resolution received 85 “yes” votes, 50 “no” votes and 42 abstentions. By comparison, last year the resolution received 95 “yes” votes, 52 “no” votes and 30 abstentions. Yesterday’s vote confirmed what I have been sensing for some time now – the resolution is losing steam. For the first time ever, the “no” and “abstention” votes totaled more than the “yes” votes.
What’s encouraging is the country-by-country vote. The ECLJ team tells me that several of the countries we met with actually backed away from supporting the resolution and changed their votes in committee yesterday. Of the 12 countries that our team met with, seven nations changed their votes after encouragement from our team: Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, and Uruguay all voted to “abstain” after voting “yes” last year. And, St. Lucia, which voted “yes” last year, did not vote at all in the committee yesterday.
In addition to our work to convince nations to withhold support for this resolution, we also delivered an oral argument before the U.N.’s Human Rights Council. You can read the ECLJ’s written submission to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights here.
We know that if dangerous resolutions like this are enshrined as international law, it will come at the price of countless Christian lives.
As you recall, the resolution is being sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) – a coalition of 57 states. Although the OIC says the campaign is aimed at protecting all faiths, once again, only Islam is cited by name. There’s mounting concern about this resolution and a growing realization that while it focuses specifically on Islam, it ultimately intimidates others from speaking out against Islam.
U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based organization that monitors the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, acknowledged what we have stated all along that the resolution is “aimed at the Western world to intimidate anyone from criticizing radical Islam….”
The next step in this battle moves to the United Nations General Assembly where the “Defamation of Religions” resolution will receive a vote sometime during the second or third week of December. Last year in the General Assembly, the resolution received 108 “yes” votes, 51 “no” votes and 25 abstentions.
We will continue our work to ensure that that this dangerous resolution continues to receive less support and that more countries understand that this resolution is harmful – not helpful – to preserving religious liberty and freedom.
We will have more next week on how you can make a difference and have your voice heard on this critical issue.
Posted: 11/25/2008 1:15:00 PM
http://aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=697
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“The Jesus of the New Age Movement”
Part Two in a Two-Part Series on New Age Christology PART 1 is HERE
by Ron Rhodes
In her best-selling book, Out on a Limb, Shirley MacLaine recounts how a friend once said to her: “You know that nothing is recorded in the Bible about Christ from the time he was about twelve until he began to really teach at about thirty years old. Right?” “Yes,” MacLaine replied, “I had heard about that and I just figured he didn’t have much to say until he got older.” “Well, no,” her friend responded, “a lot of people think that those eighteen missing years were spent traveling in and around India and Tibet and Persia and the Near East. They say he became an adept yogi and mastered complete control over his body and the physical world around him[he] tried to teach people that they could do the same things too if they got more in touch with their spiritual selves and their own potential power.”[1]
Did Jesus travel to the East to study under gurus? Did He become “the Christ” as a result of what He learned and accomplished there? Are there mystical “gospels” that have been suppressed by the church, keeping us from knowing the real Jesus? In this article, we will look at these and other important questions related to the Jesus of the New Age movement. We begin by examining the claims of a controversial Russian writer.
THE LIFE OF SAINT ISSA
As the story goes, in 1887, Nicolas Notovitch – a Russian war correspondent – went on a journey through India. While en route to Leh, the capital of Ladakh (in Northern India along the Tibetan border), he heard a Tibetan lama (i.e., monk) in a monastery refer to a grand lama named Issa (the Tibetan form of “Jesus”). Notovitch inquired further, and discovered that a chronicle of the life of Issa existed with other sacred scrolls at the Convent of Himis (about 25 miles from Leh).
Notovitch visited this convent and was told by the chief lama that a scroll did in fact exist which provided details about the Prophet Issa. This holy man allegedly preached the same doctrines in Israel as he earlier did in India. The original scroll, the lama said, was written in the Pali language and later translated into Tibetan. The Convent of Himis possessed the Tibetan translation, while the original was said to be in the library of Lhassa (the traditional capital of Tibet).
Notovitch eventually persuaded the lama to read the scroll to him, and had it translated from Tibetan by an interpreter. According to Notovitch, the literal translation of the scroll was “disconnected and mingled with accounts of other contemporaneous events to which they bear no relation,” and so he took the liberty to arrange “all the fragments concerning the life of Issa in chronological order and [took] pains to impress upon them the character of unity, in which they were absolutely lacking.”[2] He went without sleep for many nights so he could order and remodel what he had heard.
From the scroll, Notovitch learned that “Jesus had wandered to India and to Tibet as a young man before he began his work in Palestine.”[3] The beginning of Jesus’ alleged journey is described in the scroll this way:
When Issa had attained the age of thirteen years, the epoch when an Israelite should take a wife, the house where his parents earned their living began to be a place of meeting for rich and noble people, desirous of having for a son-in-law the young Issa, already famous for his edifying discourses in the name of the almighty. Then it was that Issa left the parental house in secret, departed from Jerusalem, and with the merchants set out towards Sind, with the object of perfecting himself in the Divine Word and of studying the laws of the great Buddhas.[4]
According to Notovitch, the scroll proceeds to explain how, after briefly visiting with the Jains, young Issa studied for six years among the Brahmins at Juggernaut, Rajagriha, Benares, and other Indian holy cities. The priests of Brahma “taught him to read and understand the Vedas, to cure by aid of prayer, to teach, to explain the holy scriptures to the people, and to drive out evil spirits from the bodies of men, restoring unto them their sanity.”[5]
While there, the story continues, Issa sought to teach the scriptures to all the people of India – including the lower castes. The Brahmins and Kshatriyas (higher castes) opposed him in this, and told him that the Sudras (a lower caste) were forbidden to read or even contemplate the Vedas. Issa denounced them severely for this.
Because of Issa’s controversial teachings, a death plot was devised against him. But the Sudras warned him and he left Juggernaut, establishing himself in Gautamides (the birthplace of the Buddha Sakyamuni) where he studied the sacred writings of the Sutras. “Six years after, Issa, whom the Buddha had elected to spread his holy word, had become a perfect expositor of the sacred writings. Then he left Nepal and the Himalayan mountains, descended into the valley of Rajputana, and went towards the west, preaching to diverse peoples the supreme perfection of man.”[6] Following this, we are told, Issa briefly visited Persia where he preached to the Zoroastrians. Then, at 29, he returned to Israel and began to preach all that he had learned.
According to Notovitch’s “scroll,” by the end of Issa’s three-year ministry, Pilate had become so alarmed at his mushrooming popularity that he ordered one of his spies to accuse him falsely. Issa was then imprisoned and tortured by soldiers to force a confession which would permit his being executed. The Jewish priests tried to act in Issa’s behalf, but to no avail. Issa was falsely accused and Pilate ordered the death sentence:
At sunset the sufferings of Issa came to an end. He lost consciousness, and the soul of this just man left his body to become absorbed in the Divinity. Meanwhile, Pilate became afraid of his action and gave the body of the saint to his parents, who buried it near the spot of his execution. Three days after, the governor sent his soldiers to carry away the body of Issa to bury it elsewhere, fearing otherwise a popular insurrection. The next day the crowd found the tomb open and empty. At once the rumor spread that the supreme Judge had sent his angels to carry away the mortal remains of the saint in whom dwelt on earth a part of the Divine Spirit.[7]
Following this, some merchants in Palestine allegedly traveled to India, came upon some people who had known Issa as a casual student of Sanskrit and Pali during his youth in India, and filled them in on Issa’s demise at the hands of Pilate. And, as the story concludes, The Life of Saint Issa was written on a scroll – author(s) unknown – three or four years later.
Reactions to Notovitch
This alleged manuscript generated a number of lively responses. Let us briefly look at a sampling of these.
F. Max Muller. In October 1894, preeminent Orientalist Max Muller of Oxford University (who himself was an advocate of Eastern philosophy and therefore could not be accused of having a Christian bias) published a refutation of Notovitch in The Nineteenth Century, a scholarly review. Four of his arguments are noteworthy: (1) Muller asserted that an old document like the one Notovitch allegedly found would have been included in the Kandjur and Tandjur (catalogues in which all Tibetan literature is supposed to be listed). (2) He rejected Notovitch’s account of the origin of the book. He asked how Jewish merchants happened, among the millions of India, to meet the very people who had known Issa as a student, and still more “how those who had known Issa as a simple student in India saw at once that he was the same person who had been put to death under Pontius Pilate.”[8] (3) Muller cites a woman who had visited the monastery of Himis and made inquiries about Notovitch. According to a letter she wrote (dated June 29, 1894), “there is not a single word of truth in the whole story! There has been no Russian here. There is no life of Christ there at all!”[9] And (4) Muller questioned the great liberty Notovitch took in editing and arranging the alleged verses. Muller said this is something no reputable scholar would have done.
Notovitch promptly responded to Muller’s arguments in the preface to the London edition of The Life of Saint Issa which was published the following year (1895). But his response did little to satisfy his critics. He said: (1) The verses which were found would not be in any catalogues because “they are to be found scattered through more than one book without any title.”[10] (But in his first preface he said the Convent of Himis contained “a few copies of the manuscript in question.”[11]) (2) Regarding the unlikeliness of Jewish merchants encountering those who knew Issa as a child in India, Notovitch said “they were not Jewish but Indian merchants who happened to witness the crucifixion prior to returning home from Palestine.”[12] (Even so, it would still be unlikely that – among the millions in India – the merchants would come upon the precise people who knew Issa as a child.) (3) As for editing and arranging the verses in The Life of Saint Issa, Notovitch said that the same kind of editing was done with the Iliad and no one ever questioned that. (But how does this legitimize Notovitch’s modus operandi?) (4) As to the refusal by the lama of Himis to affirmatively answer questions about the manuscript (as he apparently did with the lady who wrote Muller), Notovitch says this was because “Orientals are in the habit of looking upon Europeans as robbers who introduce themselves in their midst to despoil them in the name of civilization.”[13] Notovitch succeeded only “because I made use of the Eastern diplomacy which I had learnt in my travels.”14 (This was a convenient rationalization, for Notovitch could always point to a lack of “Eastern diplomacy” on the part of a European challenger whenever a monk refused to corroborate the Issa legend.)
Assuming (wrongly) that his response to Muller laid criticism of his work to rest, Notovitch suggested that in the future his critics restrict themselves solely to the question: “Did those passages exist in the monastery of Himis, and have I faithfully reproduced their substance?”[15]
J. Archibald Douglas. J. Archibald Douglas, Professor at Government College in Agra, India, took a three-month vacation from the college and retraced Notovitch’s steps at the Himis monastery. He published an account of his journey in The Nineteenth Century (June 1895), the bulk of which reproduced an interview with the chief lama of the monastery. The lama said he had been chief lama for 15 years, which means he would have been the chief lama during Notovitch’s alleged visit. The lama asserted that during these 15 years, no European with a broken leg had ever sought refuge at the monastery.
When asked if he was aware of any book in any Buddhist monastery in Tibet pertaining to the life of Issa, he said: “I have never heard of [a manuscript] which mentions the name of Issa, and it is my firm and honest belief that none such exists. I have inquired of our principal Lamas in other monasteries of Tibet, and they are not acquainted with any books or manuscripts which mention the name of Issa.”[16] When portions of Notovitch’s book were read to the lama, he responded, “Lies, lies, lies, nothing but lies!”[17]
The interview was written down and witnessed by the lama, Douglas, and the interpreter, and on June 3, 1895, was stamped with the official seal of the lama. The credibility of The Life of Saint Issa was unquestionably damaged by Douglas’s investigation.
Nicholas Roerich. In The Lost Years of Jesus, Elizabeth Clare Prophet documents other supporters of Notovitch’s work, the most prominent of which was Nicholas Roerich. Roerich – a Theosophist – claimed that from 1924 to 1928 he traveled throughout Central Asia and discovered that legends about Issa were widespread. In his book, Himalaya, he makes reference to “writings” and “manuscripts” about Issa – some of which he claims to have seen and others about which people told him. Roerich allegedly recorded independently in his own travel diary the same legend of Issa that Notovitch had seen earlier.
Per Beskow – author of Strange Tales About Jesus – responded to Roerich’s work by suggesting that he leaned heavily on two previous “Jesus goes East” advocates: “The first part of his account is taken literally from Notovitch’s Life of Saint Issa, chapters 5-13 (only extracts but with all the verses in the right order). It is followed by ‘another version’ (pages 93-94), taken from chapter 16 of Dowling’s Aquarian Gospel.”[18] (We will consider the Aquarian Gospel shortly.)
Edgar J. Goodspeed. Notovitch’s The Life of Saint Issa refused to die; it was republished in New York in 1926. This motivated Edgar J. Goodspeed, Professor at the University of Chicago, to publish a Christian response. He commented that “it is worthwhile to call attention to [The Life of Saint Issa] because its republication in New York in 1926 was hailed by the press as a new and important discovery,”[19] even though first published over thirty years earlier (1894).
Three of Goodspeed’s arguments are noteworthy. (1) Goodspeed suggests a literary dependency of The Life of Saint Issa on Matthew, Luke, Acts, and Romans. This would not be odd except that The Life of Saint Issa was allegedly written three or four years after the death of Christ, whereas Matthew, Luke, Acts, and Romans were written two or three decades later. An example of this dependency relates to how The Life of Saint Issa attempts to fill in the silent years of Jesus between the ages of twelve and thirty: “these two ages are taken for granted by the author of this work, who unconsciously bases his scheme upon them. We know them from the Gospel of Luke alone, and the question arises: ‘Has the author of Issa obtained them from the same source?'”[20]
(2) Notovitch describes Luke as saying that Jesus “was in the desert until the day of his showing unto Israel.” This, Notovitch says, “conclusively proves that no one knew where the young man had gone, to so suddenly reappear sixteen years later.” But, says Goodspeed, “it is not of Jesus but of John that Luke says this (1:80), so that it will hardly yield the conclusive proof Notovitch seeks. At this point in Luke’s narrative, in fact, Jesus has not yet appeared.”[21]
(3) Goodspeed comments that The Life of Saint Issa does not purport to have been deciphered and translated by a competent scholar: “The lama read, the interpreter translated, Notovitch took notes. He could evidently not control either the lama or the interpreter, to make sure of what the Tibetan manuscripts contained.”[22]
Throughout the twentieth century, many individuals have responded positively to the work of Notovitch, including Janet and Richard Bock (makers of the film, “The Lost Years of Jesus”), Swami Abhedananda, Sai Baba, Paramahansa Yogananda of the Self-Realization Fellowship, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Evidence abounds that the Issa legend is alive and well today.
Max Muller, J. Archibald Douglas, and Edgar J. Goodspeed have all presented solid refutations of the legend. These should challenge any serious Issa advocate to reevaluate his or her position. I shall offer further arguments later. But first, it is necessary to examine additional features in the New Age profile of Jesus.
THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL OF JESUS THE CHRIST
Another major source for the New Age Jesus is The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, written by Civil War army chaplain Levi Dowling (1844-1911). The title page of this “gospel” bears the words: “Transcribed from the Book of God’s Remembrances, known as the Akashic Records.” (Occultists believe the physical earth is surrounded by an immense spiritual field known as “Akasha” in which is impressed every impulse of human thought, will, and emotion. It is therefore believed to constitute a complete record of human history.) Hence, unlike Notovitch whose conclusions were based on an alleged objective ancient document, Levi’s book is based on an occult form of subjective (nonverifiable) illumination.
The bulk of Levi’s gospel, first published in 1911, focuses on the education and travels of Jesus. After studying with Rabbi Hillel (a Jewish scholar), Jesus allegedly traveled to India where he spent years studying among the Brahmins and Buddhists.
Jesus supposedly became interested in studying in the East after Joseph (Jesus’ father) hosted Prince Ravanna from India. During his visit, Ravanna asked “that he might be the patron of the child; might take him to the East where he could learn the wisdom of the Brahms. And Jesus longed to go that he might learn: and after many days his parents gave consent.” So “Jesus was accepted as a pupil in the temple Jagannath; and here he learned the Vedas and the Manic laws.”[23]
Jesus then visited the city of Benares of the Ganges. While there, “Jesus sought to learn the Hindu art of healing, and became the pupil of Udraka, greatest of the Hindu healers.”[24] And Jesus “remained with Udraka until he had learned from him all there was to be learned of the Hindu art of healing.”[25]
Levi proceeds to chronicle a visit to Tibet, where Jesus allegedly met Meng-ste, the greatest sage of the East: “And Jesus had access to all the sacred manuscripts, and, with the help of Meng-ste, read them all.”[26]
Jesus eventually arrived in Egypt, and – in what must be considered a climax of this account of the “lost years” – he joined the “Sacred Brotherhood” at Heliopolis. While there, he passed through seven degrees of initiation – Sincerity, Justice, Faith, Philanthropy, Heroism, Love Divine, and THE CHRIST. The Aquarian Gospel records the bestowal of this highest degree: “The hierophant arose and said, upon your brow I place this diadem, and in the Great Lodge of the heavens and earth you are THE CHRIST. You are a neophyte no more; but God himself will speak, and will confirm your title and degree. And then a voice that shook the very temple said, THIS IS THE CHRIST; and every living creature said, AMEN.”[27]
Later, following his three-year ministry as THE CHRIST and his subsequent death, Jesus’ resurrection is described by Levi in terms of a “transmutation” which all men may accomplish. He made many appearances to people all over the world to substantiate this transmutation. For example, he appeared to the “Silent Brotherhood” in Greece and said: “What I can do all men can do. Go preach the gospel of the omnipotence of man.”[28]
THE READINGS OF EDGAR CAYCE
Like Levi, Edgar Cayce claimed the ability to read the Akashic Record while in a trance. During his life, he gave over 16,000 readings, 5,000 of which deal with religious matters. It was from the Akashic Record that Cayce set forth an elaborate explanation of the early years of Jesus.
The person we know as Jesus, Cayce tells us, had 29 previous incarnations: “These included an early sun worshipper, the author of the Book of the Dead, and Hermes, who was supposedly the architect of the Great Pyramid. Jesus was also Zend (the father of Zoroaster), Amilius (an Atlantean) and other figures of ancient history.”[29] Other incarnations include Adam, Joseph, Joshua, Enoch, and Melchizedek.
This particular soul did not become “the Christ” until the thirtieth incarnation – as Jesus of Nazareth. The reason Jesus had to go through so many incarnations is that he – like all other human beings – had “karmic debt” (sin) to work off.
Jesus received a comprehensive education. Prior to his twelfth year, he attained a thorough knowledge of the Jewish law. “From his twelfth to his fifteenth or sixteenth year he was taught the prophecies by Judy [an Essene teacher] in her home at Carmel. Then began his education abroad. He was sent first again into Egypt for only a short period, then into India for three years, then into that later called Persia. From Persia he was called to Judea at the death of Joseph, then went into Egypt for the completion of his preparation as a teacher.”[30] During his alleged studies abroad, Jesus studied under many teachers (including Kahjian in India, Junner in Persia, and Zar in Egypt), and learned healing, weather control, telepathy, astrology, and other psychic arts. When his education was complete, he went back to his homeland where he performed “miracles” and taught the multitudes for three years.
JESUS THE CHRIST AND HIS TEACHINGS
There are many differing views regarding how Jesus attained “Christhood.” As we have seen, Levi said Jesus went through seven degrees of initiation, the seventh being THE CHRIST. Cayce said Jesus became “the Christ” in the thirtieth incarnation. Many modern New Agers say the human Jesus merely “attuned” to the cosmic Christ, or achieved at-one-ment with the Christ by raising his own “Christ-consciousness.” But, however, Jesus attained “Christhood,” New Agers agree that he was a teacher par excellence of New Age “truths.”
New Agers generally do one of two things with the teachings of Jesus. Some merely reinterpret the gospel sayings of Jesus to make it appear that Jesus was actually teaching New Age “truth.” Others add that long-lost (New Age) sayings of Jesus have been rediscovered. These “rediscovered” sayings can have one of two sources: reputed ancient extracanonical writings (like the “Gnostic gospels” which were allegedly suppressed by the early church and rediscovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945) and the Akashic Record. Let us now consider samplings of each of these.
The Gospel Sayings of Jesus. According to New Agers, we must all seek first the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 6:33), recognizing that the “kingdom” has reference to our inner divinity.[31] For indeed, Jesus said “Ye are gods” (John 10:34). The parable about those who foolishly build a house on sand (Matt. 7:24-27) teaches us that those who fail to recognize their divinity will not be able to stand against the storms of life.[32] But if we come unto Jesus, we will find rest, for his yoke (i.e., yoga) is easy and his burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).[33]
“Newly Discovered” Sayings from Extracanonical Sources. Jesus taught a form of pantheism according to The Life of Saint Issa, for he said that “the Eternal Spirit [God] is the soul of all that is animate.”[34] He also taught that all humans have unlimited potential: “I came to show human possibilities; that which I am, all men will be.”[35] And, according to the Gnostic gospels, Jesus spoke of “illusion and enlightenment, not of sin and repentance.”[36] Indeed, man can save himself: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.”[37]
“Newly Discovered” Sayings from the Akashic Record. According to Levi’s Aquarian Gospel, Jesus was just a way-shower: “And all the people were entranced, and would have worshipped Jesus as God; but Jesus said, I am your brother man just come to show the way to God; you shall not worship man.”[38] Jesus also taught pantheism and monism: “The universal God is one, yet he is more than one [i.e., he takes many forms]; all things are God; all things are one.”[39] Jesus also tells us that “the nations of the earth see God from different points of view, and so he does not seem the same to every one.”[40]
THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
A Christian response to the New Age rendition of Jesus may begin with the observation that the accounts of Jesus going East have irreconcilable contradictions. This fact alone should make any objective investigator suspicious of the reliability of these documents.
Each of the accounts differ, for example, regarding the beginning of Jesus’ trek. The Life of Saint Issa portrays Jesus departing secretly from his parent’s house with some merchants on their way to India so he could perfect himself by studying the laws of the great Buddhas. Levi’s Aquarian Gospel depicts Prince Ravanna from India asking Jesus’ parents if he can escort Jesus to India where he can learn Indian wisdom. Cayce’s reading of the Akashic Record has an Essene teacher sending Jesus to India to study astrology and other psychic disciplines.
What is particularly revealing is that both Cayce and Levi allegedly obtained their “revelations” by reading the Akashic Record, yet their readings blatantly contradict each other. Since both Cayce and Levi are highly respected in New Age circles, how do New Agers account for the obvious failure of at least one of them to properly “read” the Akashic Record? Furthermore, if one of these top-rated New Age seers cannot be trusted, which one can be?
Not only do the accounts disagree with each other, they all disagree with the gospel accounts in the New Testament. And the New Testament has solid, irrefutable manuscript evidence – something that should be considered by those wanting to replace it so easily with Gnostic gospels or alleged ancient manuscripts claiming that Jesus went East.
The New Testament gospels are based on eyewitness testimony. Moreover, they were written very close to the time of the events which they report. It is crucial to recognize that the four canonical gospels are all dated much earlier than the Gnostic gospels. The earliest Gnostic gospels date from A.D. 150 to 200. The New Testament gospels date from A.D. 60 to 100 – approximately one century earlier. Clearly, the New Testament gospels are the authentic and reliable source for information on the life and teachings of Jesus.
On the other hand, all of the “Jesus goes East” accounts contain historical inaccuracies, several of which have already been mentioned. Other examples include: (1) Levi’s Aquarian Gospel said Herod Antipas was ruler in Jerusalem. Antipas, however, never ruled in Jerusalem but in Galilee. Dowling meant to say Herod the Great. This is especially significant since Levi’s transcriptions are claimed to be “true to the letter” in the introduction of his Aquarian Gospel![41] (2) Levi’s reference to Jesus visiting with Meng-ste was probably meant to be the great Chinese sage, Meng-tse (tse, not ste). Dowling apparently didn’t realized, however, that Meng-tse died in 289 B.C.
The deeper one probes, the clearer it becomes that the Jesus of the New Age movement lacks any basis in history. To many, The Life of Saint Issa appeared to provide this. However, the world still awaits bona fide hard evidence that can be physically examined by all interested parties. Even a photograph would be helpful. But as Notovitch lamented: “During my journey I took a considerable number of very curious photographs, but when on arrival at Bombay I examined the negatives, I found they had all become obliterated.”[42] I don’t want to be cynical, but
In order to find a New Age Jesus in authentic documents, New Agers are forced to deal with the language of the New Testament in a manipulative fashion. Tal Brooke comments: “It is a little like the problem of the Marxist who wishes to change the common understanding of the United States Constitution so that a gradualist skewing of word meaning can enable a socialistic interpretation of words whose intended meanings in the original were clearly different.”[43]
Though the New Testament does not directly address this issue, there are strong indirect evidences that Jesus never traveled East for eighteen years. First, Jesus was well-known as a carpenter (Mark 6:3) and as a carpenter’s son (Matt. 13:55). That His carpentry played a large role in His life up to the time of His ministry is clear from the fact that some of His parables and teachings drew upon His experience as a carpenter (e.g., building a house on rock as opposed to sand, Matt. 7:24-27). Moreover, the people in and around Nazareth displayed familiarity with Jesus, as if they had had regular contact with Him for a prolonged time. At the beginning of His three-year ministry, Jesus “went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read” (Luke 4:16). After He finished reading, “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked” (Luke 4:22). This implies that those in the synagogue regarded Jesus as a local resident.
It is important to note that when Jesus stood up to read, He did so from the Old Testament Scriptures. And the Old Testament – for which Jesus often displayed reverence (cf. Matt. 5:18) – (1) contains numerous warnings and admonitions about staying away from false gods and false religious systems (cf. Exod. 20:2; 34:14; Deut. 6:14; 13:10; 2 Kings 17:35); (2) clearly distinguishes between the creation and the Creator, unlike Eastern thought; and (3) taught the need for redemption, not gnosis (knowledge). It is no coincidence that Jesus is often seen quoting from the Old Testament in the gospels, but not once does He quote from (or even mention) the Vedas!
While some in Nazareth were impressed at the graciousness of Jesus’ words, others were offended that He was attracting so much attention. They seemed to be treating Him with a contempt born of familiarity. We read in Matthew 13:54-57: “Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?…Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at him.”
Among those that became angriest at Jesus were the Jewish leaders. They accused Him of many offenses, including breaking the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-14), blasphemy (John 8:58-59; 10:31-33), and doing miracles in Satan’s power (Matt. 12:24). But they never accused Him of teaching or practicing anything learned in the East. The Jews considered such teachings and practices to be idolatry and sorcery. Had Jesus actually gone to the East to study under “the great Buddhas,” this would have been excellent grounds for discrediting and disqualifying Him regarding His claim to be the promised Jewish Messiah.
It is noteworthy that the self-concept of the New Age Jesus is that he is just a man who became enlightened in the East, eventually achieving Christhood. The self-concept of the New Testament Jesus, however, is one in which He singles Himself out as God (cf. John 8:58).
It is understandable why the “Jesus who went East” refused to accept worship (cf. Dowling). The New Testament Jesus, by contrast, accepted worship on numerous occasions because He knew Himself to be the one and only God (note especially Matthew 28:17). Of course, only God can be worshiped (cf. Ex. 20:4-5; Deut. 6:4-5, 13). It is thus significant that even when Jesus was just a babe, the Magi (from the East) “fell down and worshiped Him” (Matt. 2:11).
The final word on this matter must belong to God the Father, for there is no higher authority in the universe. He Himself is quoted as saying to Jesus: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever” (Heb. 1:8). It is Jesus – the second Person of the Trinity – that we as Christians look forward to seeing; ‘we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). And, as Christians, we exult in the truth that Jesus has a name that is above every name, and that at His name, every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:9-10).
A CLOSING REFLECTION
What if – despite all the arguments presented above – a manuscript should one day surface in India which speaks of Issa? Would this prove that Jesus did in fact go East during His youth?
Christians acknowledge that news of Jesus eventually reached India and Tibet as a result of the missionary efforts of the early church. It is conceivable that when devotees of other religions heard about Jesus, they tried to modify what they heard to make it appear that Jesus and His teachings were compatible with their own belief systems. It is possible that – sometime between the first and nineteenth centuries – these unreliable legends were recorded on scrolls and circulated among the convents in India. This would not be unlike the distorted versions of the life of Jesus that emerged among the early Gnostics (and recorded in the Gnostic gospels).
But for such a manuscript to be convincing, it would have to have the same kind of irrefutable manuscript evidence as the New Testament, the same quality of eyewitness testimony, and be written very close to the events on which they report like the New Testament. Until such an authoritative document surfaces, is it wise to base one’s eternal destiny on a manuscript that has as little evidential support as Notovich’s?
Douglas Groothuis issues this challenge: “Should any supposed record of Jesus’ life come to the fore, let it marshal its historical merits in competition with holy writ. The competitors have an uphill battle against the incumbent.”[44]
NOTES AND GLOSSARY ARE HERE
http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/JesusNAM.html
“The Christ of the New Age Movement”
Part One in a Two-Part Series on New Age Christology PART 2 is HERE
by Ron Rhodes
“Who do you say I am?” (Luke 9:20, NIV) The question was first asked of Peter by Christ nineteen centuries ago, and has continued since then to the present day to be the litmus test of spiritual authenticity. Perhaps never in the history of the Christian church has this question been more relevant than it is today. One reason for this is that New Agers have taken the New Testament sculpture (if you will) of Christ, crafted an esoteric/mystical chisel, and hammered away at this sculpture until a completely new image has been formed.
The new sculpture is one that fits nicely on a display shelf with sculptures of Buddha, Krishna, and other “holy men.” This Christ is broad-minded and nonjudgmental. He is a “Master” among “Masters,” who – with the others – is leading the human race into a New Age of enlightenment and harmony.
Fundamental to any discussion of New Age Christology is the recognition that New Agers distinguish between Jesus (a mere human vessel) and the Christ (variously defined, but always divine, and often a cosmic, impersonal entity). Part One of this series will therefore focus on the Christ of the New Age, and will provide a brief history of the various views as to his (or its) identity, his purpose, how he aims to accomplish this purpose, and his relationship to humanity. Part Two will focus on the Jesus of the New Age, and will address such issues as the “lost years” of Jesus (as described by Levi Dowling, Edgar Cayce, and others), his supposed training in Eastern/occultic concepts, his “attunement” to the Christ, and his “New Age teachings.”
Regarding methodology, this article will anchor on two reference points – one primary and one secondary – from which the history of New Age Christology will be traced. The primary reference point will be Theosophy; the secondary reference point will be the teachings of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. We might liken Theosophy and Quimby’s teachings to two trees which grew side by side, having been planted close to the same time (the mid to late 1800s) in the same soil, fertilized with common ingredients (nineteenth-century transcendentalism, the philosophy of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the influx of Hindu monism, etc.). Certainly, in many respects these two have distinct beliefs and different goals, but they both took root and flourished in the same mystical climate. Taken together, these represent an appropriate starting point for a study in New Age Christology.
THEOSOPHY AND ITS OFFSHOOTS
Theosophy, founded in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, teaches that each human being evolves through seven planes of existence (the physical plane, the astral plane, the mental plane, etc.). Each plane a person evolves through brings him or her ever closer to union with the Absolute (God). Theosophists reason that this process can take a very long time, hence requiring innumerable reincarnations.
According to “revelations” received by Blavatsky, it is not only individuals who evolve; the human race as a whole also evolves. So far there have allegedly been three races: the Lemurian, the Atlantean, and the Aryan. Each of these three (which Theosophists call “rootraces”) are divided into “subraces.” Mankind is now in the third rootrace – the Aryan rootrace – and is about to enter the sixth subrace of the Aryan rootrace.
Theosophy teaches that at the beginning of each subrace, the Supreme World Teacher (also known as “the Christ,” the bestower of divine wisdom) enters the body of a disciple in order to assist and guide the spiritual evolution of man. Each “incarnation” reveals more to man about God than the previous one. The five incarnations of Christ in the five subraces of the Aryan rootrace were Buddha (in India), Hermes (in Egypt), Zoroaster (in Persia), Orpheus (in Greece), and Jesus (at the River Jordan, where the Christ came upon Jesus at His baptism).[1]
Jesus is said to have volunteered his body for use by the Christ. Annie Besant, who took over Theosophical leadership when Blavatsky died, said: “For Him [the Christ] was needed an earthly tabernacle, a human form, the body of a man. The man Jesus yielded himself a willing sacrifice, ‘offered himself without spot’ to the Lord of Love, who took unto Himself that pure form as tabernacle, and dwelt therein for three years of mortal life.”[2]
Theosophists reject any suggestion that Jesus died on the cross to pay for man’s sins. Man saves himself through continual reincarnations. This spiritual evolution leads men further and further away from the physical plane and closer and closer to spiritual planes of existence. Because of this process, every human being – regardless of race or religion – is a potential “Christ.”
Human beings who continue to evolve through reincarnation eventually become “Masters.” This is a group of formerly historical persons who have finished their earthly evolutions and voluntarily help lesser-evolved human beings to reach their level.
Because Theosophists believe the fifth subrace of the Aryan rootrace (the subrace of intellectual man) is about to give way to the sixth subrace (the subrace of spiritual man), they believe another incarnation of the Christ will soon take place. Note that since this will be the sixth appearance of the Christ in the Aryan rootrace, it is not spoken of as the “second coming.”
Annie Besant first announced the coming of this Messiah in 1906. Her aim was to groom Jiddu Krishnamurti for the role of World Teacher or Messiah. In 1925 she claimed for this young Indian man the title of “Messianic Leader and Reincarnation of the World Teacher.” But by 1929, Krishnamurti became convinced it was all a mistake. On November 20 of that year, he “refused to receive further adoration [saying frankly], ‘I am not an actor; I refuse to wear the robes of a Messiah; so I am again free of all possessions.'”[3] Theosophy’s Christ remains to appear.
Under the leadership of Annie Besant, dissension took its toll on Theosophy. The result of growing discontent within the Society was a four-pronged theological fork in the road. Theosophy continued along its traditional path (the first prong). But Rudolf Steiner broke away to form the Anthroposophical Society in 1912 (the second prong); Alice Bailey broke away to establish the Arcane School in 1923 (the third prong); and Guy and Edna Ballard broke away to lead the “I AM” movement in the 1930s (the fourth prong). Each “prong” has made an impact on New Age Christology.
The Christ of Anthroposophy
Dr. Rudolf Steiner was an active member of the Theosophical Society and headed the German charter of the group. However, when a Theosophical subgroup, the “Order of the Star of the East,” began promoting Krishnamurti as the new incarnation of the Christ, Steiner threatened to expel any member of the German charter who joined the Order. Annie Besant retaliated by canceling Steiner’s charter. Steiner then founded the Anthroposophical Society in 1912, and most of the German membership of Theosophy joined with him.
Steiner’s emphasis represents a significant departure from his Theosophical roots. Instead of arguing for a Christ who periodically incarnates into individuals as each new “subrace” begins, Steiner’s emphasis is on what the Christ accomplished through his decisive “incarnation” in the human Jesus.
Steiner’s Christology is based on his investigation into the “Akashic Records.” Occultists believe that the physical earth is surrounded by an immense spiritual field known as “Akasha” in which is impressed – like a celestial tape recording – every impulse of human thought, will, and emotion. It therefore constitutes a complete record of human history. Steiner claimed to be able to “read” the Akashic Records, thus enabling him to investigate human history without use of written records. Based on this, he discovered that the descent of the Christ on the human Jesus was the absolutely central event of human evolution.
In Steiner’s theology, the Christ’s descent on Jesus became necessary because man’s consciousness had progressively become too focused on the material realm and had completely lost touch with the spiritual nature behind physical reality. The danger was that this situation could become permanent.
To prevent this, the Christ’s initial goal was to “incarnate” into a human being (Jesus) so he could accomplish his greater goal of “incarnating” from Jesus into the “etheric earth.” Occultists believe an etheric earth exists behind the physical earth. The etheric earth is thought to be made up of a fine energy substance from which is created the mold for every form that is manifested in the physical plane. Every material object on the physical plane has an etheric counterpart. All material forms in the physical universe find their ultimate source in this energy substance of the etheric realm. The Christ desired to enter this etheric earth so he could bring about spiritual changes among people living on the physical earth. But in order to transfer from his spiritual realm to the etheric realm, he needed a human instrument through which to work. This instrument was found in Jesus.
The Christ “incarnated” into Jesus, and three years later was crucified. At the crucifixion, the Christ left Jesus’ body and “incarnated” into the etheric earth:
The blood flowed from the wounds of Jesus Christ. This blood must not be regarded simply as chemical substance, it must be recognized as something altogether unique. When it flowed from His wounds and into the earth, a substance was imparted to our earth which, in uniting with it, constituted an event of the greatest possible significance; this blood passed through a process of ‘etherization’…since the Mystery of Golgotha, the etherized blood of Christ Jesus has lived in the ether of the earth. The etheric body of the earth is permeated by what the blood that flowed on Golgotha became.[4]
Because of this, “ever since the Mystery of Golgotha man lives in a spiritual environment, an environment that has been Christianized because it has absorbed the Christ impulse.”[5]
Having mystically entered the etheric earth via his “etherized” blood, the Christ now seeks to “mass incarnate” into all humanity. This will lead to man’s redemption. Steiner says that the “Christ impulse will penetrate humanity. He belongs to the whole earth and can enter all human souls, regardless of nation and religion.”[6] This, says Steiner, is the true “second coming.”
The Christ of the Arcane School
Alice Bailey had been an active member in the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society (an inner group of trusted members who faithfully practiced Theosophy). But she eventually became critical of the organization’s policy that one could not become a disciple of a Master (which Bailey believed she already was) unless one was notified by Annie Besant (who seemed to have overlooked Bailey in this). This led to her dismissal from the Society, and shortly thereafter in 1923, she and her husband Foster founded the Arcane School.
Like Theosophy and Anthroposophy, Bailey believed that Jesus was a medium who allowed the Christ to use his body. But Bailey distinguished her beliefs from Anthroposophy by arguing that the “second coming” referred to the Christ coming in a single Avatar, not in all humanity.[7] According to Arcane thought, the Christ – along with his disciples, the Masters – will draw closer and closer to humanity and eventually appear on the physical plane. Bailey said this return necessitated three conditions that either have already come or are currently coming to pass: (1) catastrophic planetary conditions; (2) a spiritual awakening; and (3) a steadily mounting invocative prayer. This last condition involves use of The Great Invocation, a prayer which is intended to speed the reappearance of the Christ.
Preparation for the Second Coming is hence the responsibility of “attuned” human beings. Those who know about this Coming are to help create conditions of “spiritual alignment” which will ultimately draw the Christ forth into our midst. Without this, the Christ is impotent to act.
Bailey believed the Christ will come again in a way which will create no divisions or separations between men, either religious, social, or ideological. When he comes, it will be to establish through precept and example (in world service) the principles on which an interdependent world may create a new civilization.
While Bailey taught that the Second Coming will be in a single Avatar, she also affirmed that he will be mystically manifested in humanity: “There is a growing and developing belief that Christ is in us, as He was in the Master Jesus, and this belief will alter world affairs and mankind’s entire attitude to life.”[8]
The Christ of the “I AM” Movements
Guy and Edna Ballard were Theosophists up until Guy was contacted by Saint Germain, an “Ascended Master” who allegedly appeared to him in a physical body. Saint Germain informed him that he lived on Mount Teton with ninety-eight other Ascended Masters.
Saint Germain appointed Guy, Edna, and their son Donald as the only “accredited” spokespeople for the Ascended Masters. Saint Germain also taught Guy about the “Great Creative Word” (I AM). The “I AM Presence” is said to be in each person and represents a point of contact with divine reality. One can attune to the I AM Presence by chanting I AM decrees. Such chanting reportedly brings about dramatic results in the life of the one chanting.
The Ballards’ Christology is distinct in that Saint Germain is considered more important (in the dawning Aquarian Age) than Jesus, and is the primary object of worship among “I AM” devotees. Jesus – himself an “Ascended Master” – allegedly said that Saint Germain is “the Greatest Blessing that has ever come to mankind.”[9] The reason for this devotion to Saint Germain is that he has brought the Violet Consuming Flame: “The conscious use of the Violet Consuming Flame is the only means by which any human being can free himself or herself from his or her own human discord and imperfection.”[10] The I AM presence is invoked by chanting decrees, and this in turn activates the Violet Flame. The Violent Flame then burns away undesirable conditions in one’s life. Of course, this nullifies any need for Jesus’ work on the cross.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Having discussed the foundation for New Age Christology in Theosophy, Anthroposophy, the Arcane School, and the “I AM” movement, this article will now examine three representative contemporary New Age leaders to illustrate how this Christology has progressed historically.
Benjamin Creme and his Arcane Roots
From 1977 to the present Benjamin Creme has traveled around the world proclaiming that the coming of Maitreya (the Christ) is imminent. Maitreya, says Creme, is the leader of the Planetary Hierarchy and has been living incognito among human beings since 1977 when his consciousness entered a specially created body of manifestation, the “Mayavirupa.”
Creme originally claimed that by the end of spring 1982, Maitreya would reveal himself via worldwide television on the “Day of Declaration,” after which time would begin a new era of planetary happiness. This Christ would come not as a religious, political, or social leader, but as an “educationalist” who would solve all the world’s problems in these areas and usher in the New Age of love, peace, and shared wealth.
Obviously 1982 has come and gone and the Christ remains to appear. The most common explanation for the Christ’s no-show is that the media prevented it. Since the media represents humanity, the media’s apathy is indicative of the broader apathy of humanity. And since the Christ’s manifestation cannot occur against man’s wishes, his “declaration” has been delayed.
Some of Creme’s ideas are noticeably similar to Theosophy. For example, he divides the world and humanity into astral, ethereal, and physical planes. He also subscribes to the idea that the Christ inhabited the body of Jesus for three years.
But despite some Theosophical overtones, his ideas are primarily a reflection of Alice Bailey’s writings, particularly her book The Reappearance of the Christ. In this book are found almost everything Creme was later to propagate: the Age of Aquarius, world service, The Great Invocation, “overshadowing” (the occult means used by a Master to inhabit a human disciple’s body), and “transmission groups” (enlightened groups who “transmit” spiritual energy to the minds of other people in order to raise the Christ-consciousness of the planet).[11]
Despite such similarities, there are at least three notable differences between Creme and Bailey. First, Creme is a date-setter regarding Maitreya’s coming (i.e., spring 1982). Bailey was convinced the Christ would appear – and she had some idea about the general timing (sometime after 2025) – but she refused to set exact dates. She wrote: “It is not for us to set the date for the appearance of the Christ or to expect any spectacular aid or curious phenomena. If our work is rightly done, He will come at the set and appointed time.”[12]
Second, Bailey used the term “Christ” to refer to a person whereas Creme uses it in reference to an office or function. The present holder of this office, says Creme, is the Lord Maitreya, who has held it now for 2,600 years. It was Maitreya who – while holding this office – manifested himself through his disciple, Jesus, by the occult method of overshadowing.
Third, Christ and Buddha are the central figures in Bailey’s theology, while Maitreya is supreme in Creme’s thinking. Bailey mentions Maitreya on occasion, but never as the leader of the Hierarchy, as does Creme.
Creme’s following has understandably declined since 1982.
David Spangler and his Anthroposophic Roots
Like Rudolf Steiner, David Spangler understands Christ to be a cosmic spirit who utilized Jesus’ body to make the transfer from His own realm (the spiritual realm) to Jesus’ realm (the realm of matter).
Spangler sees the Christ as a cosmic principle: “Any old Christ will not do, not if we need to show that we have something better than the mainstream Christian traditions. It must be a cosmic Christ, a universal Christ, a New Age Christ.”[13] The Christ is not so much a religious figure, “but rather a cosmic principle, a spiritual presence whose quality infuses and appears in various ways in all the religions and philosophies that uplift humanity and seek unity with spirit.”[14]
Spangler believes a central purpose of the Christ is to act as a “universal educator.” He uses “educate” in the sense of the Latin root educare, which means “to lead out.” Most often he speaks of the Christ “leading out” man’s “inner divinity.”[15] The “universal Presence that calls out of form and spirit the higher potentials of Divine life waiting to be released into expression, is the Christ.”[16]
Like Steiner, Spangler believes the Christ entered the etheric earth at the crucifixion. By so doing, the Christ was able to reverse man’s “downward trend” toward a physical-oriented consciousness. The Christ is thus an “occult savior.”[17]
Spangler utilizes Christian terms to describe what the Christ accomplished through Jesus. For example, Spangler says that the Christ was occultly crucified (which resulted in placing his cosmic presence within the cross of matter, space, and time). The Christ was laid in a tomb (the tomb representing a level of life characterized by “great density” [i.e., the physical world], as opposed to the “low density” spiritual realm he was accustomed to). There he would stay until the resurrection (the outflowing of Christ-energies from the etheric earth) and ascension (the ascension of Christ-consciousness in humanity). Through this sacrifice, the cosmic Christ became a savior in that he no longer stood outside the evolution of the earth, but entered into that evolution by becoming incarnate into the earth.[18] There he would function as a guide of man’s spiritual evolution.
Like Steiner, Spangler believes the Christ is now incarnating into humanity from the etheric realm. This is not unlike what occurred in Jesus 2,000 years ago, for Jesus “was the prototype or the expression of the reality of the Christ consciousness which is inherent in us all.”[19] Spangler concludes that human beings can actually become “the Word made flesh.” In fact, he says that the Word will eventually be made all flesh.[20]
Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her “I AM” Roots
While the Ballards’ “I AM” movement has considerably declined since its heyday in the 1930s, another “I AM” movement has achieved high visibility and much popularity in New Age circles. This is the Church Universal and Triumphant, founded in 1958 by Mark Prophet and now headed by his widow, Elizabeth Clare Prophet.
Foundationally, certain aspects of the Prophets’ theology can be traced directly to Theosophy. These beliefs include (1) Masters who guide man’s spiritual evolution; (2) revelations to man from these Masters; (3) the Christ’s use of Jesus’ body; (4) human evolution through progressive stages; and (5) the belief that Blavatsky’s revelations marked the beginning of the Aquarian Age.
Beyond these similarities, the Prophets derived most of their theology from the Ballards. This is seen not only in their emphasis on the I AM Presence, but also on the prominent role of Saint Germain.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet says the I AM Presence has become hopelessly distorted within man due to negative energies from within and without. These negative energies impede spiritual progress, but are effectively combated by the “Violet Consuming Flame” which is poured out on the world by Saint Germain. This Flame changes negative energy into positive energy. It is therefore an antidote to sin.
This makes Jesus’ work on the cross unnecessary. In fact, Mark and Elizabeth Prophet dismiss the idea of Jesus’ atonement on the cross as an “erroneous doctrine which he himself never taught.”[21] Like the Ballards, the Prophets believe that Jesus attained Christhood as did other Ascended Masters. The “Christ” of “I AM” theology represents the divinity within all men: “God dwells in every man and not alone in His son Jesus the Christ. The only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, is the Christ whose Image the Lord has reproduced over and over again as the Christ-identity of every son and daughter who has come forth from the infinite Spirit of the Father-Mother God.”[22] The Prophets conclude that “to become the Christ, then, is the goal of every child of God.”[23]
PHINEAS PARKHURST QUIMBY
Unquestionably, Theosophy and the groups that emerged from it are the source of many of the essential tenets of New Age Christology. But Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (who died in 1866) and the “metaphysical” groups his philosophy spawned also played a significant role.
Quimby espoused the metaphysical idea that the source of physical healing lies in the mind. He was convinced that physical diseases were caused by wrong thinking or false beliefs. These false beliefs are remedied by “the Christ.”
Like other metaphysical writers, Quimby distinguished Jesus from the Christ. Quimby credited Jesus with discovering the “Truth” of how to correct the error of sickness. “Not that He as a man was any better,” said Quimby, “but He was the embodiment of a higher Wisdom, more so than any man who has ever lived.”[24] This “Truth” or “higher Wisdom” discovered by Jesus was an impersonal mind-principle Quimby called “the Christ.” Quimby’s metaphysical concept of the Christ spawned several important movements.
New Thought
New Thought developed slowly during the nineteenth century after Quimby’s death in 1866. Quimby did not create an organization himself. But individuals he helped adopted his ideas and passed them on to others, adding to or modifying them along the way. Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science is a major example of this, though this tradition is too exclusive to meld with today’s New Age movement. However, several smaller, more inclusive metaphysical groups also emerged, and in the 1890s the term “New Thought” surfaced as a way of describing them.
The Christ of New Thought was an outgrowth of Quimby’s metaphysics. The Christ was considered not a person but an impersonal Divine Nature or Principle. Jesus was believed to have embodied or appropriated the Christ-principle as no human had before. He had fully realized his Christ-nature. But Jesus was not a savior to mankind; he was merely a “way-shower.” Salvation is based not on Jesus but on the recognition of the Divine Nature or Christ-principle within.
Unity School of Christianity
The Unity School of Christianity, an offshoot of New Thought, was founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in 1891. They are distinguished from mainstream New Thought by their belief in reincarnation.
In Unity, salvation is attained by “at-one-ment” with God – a reuniting of human consciousness with God-consciousness. Jesus attained this; all men can: “The difference between Jesus and us is not one of inherent spiritual capacity, but in difference of demonstration of it. Jesus was potentially perfect, and He expressed that perfection; we are potentially perfect, [but] we have not yet expressed it.”[25]
United Church of Religious Science
The United Church of Religious Science, another offshoot of New Thought, was founded by “Dr.” Ernest Holmes who wrote The Science of Mind in 1926. This book later became the textbook for Religious Science. Holmes was extremely eclectic, attempting to syncretize the metaphysical ideas he sifted from New Thought with psychology, philosophy, and the various world religions.
His ideas about Jesus, the Christ, and mankind are similar to other New Thought groups: “Every man is a potential Christ. From the least to the greatest the same life runs through all, threading itself into the patterns of our individuality. He is ‘over all, in all and through all.'”[26] Jesus was merely a way-shower who embodied the impersonal Christ.
NOTABLE MENTIONS
The groups and individuals described above have all contributed to the emergence of a mystical and esoteric theological climate. This has paved the way for numerous other individuals and groups to hop on the New Age bandwagon and offer their own reinterpretations of the person and work of Christ. Two of the more notable developments are the following:
A Course in Miracles. According to this New Age textbook, the “Son of God” was created by God in a state of “wakefulness.” Later, however, the Son fell asleep and had a dream of being separate from God. In the dream, the Son denied that he was created by God, asserting instead that he created himself. This usurping of God’s role as Creator marked the beginning of ego, and led the Son to conceive of himself as being separate from God.
God then created and commissioned the Holy Spirit to awaken the Son. But the Son wrongly interpreted the coming of the Holy Spirit as judge.
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The New World Religion
(Part 1 in a continuing series)
In my first book En Route to Global Occupation I summarized the economic, political and spiritual aspects of the one-world/New Age movement, showing their interaction in the pursuit of a global civilization. My latest book The New World Religion picks up where En Route left off, bringing people up-to-date on the most recent developments while examining the one-world movement’s spiritual roots and religious goals.
In order to achieve their occult objective, New Agers had to deal with the “problem” of Christianity which had been the main obstacle to their success. Christians had to somehow be neutralized or, if possible, seduced to unwittingly support their agenda. The modern ecumenical movement, as I documented in my book, has played a key role in accomplishing this mission.
Most people do not realize that today’s ecumenical movement is an integral part of the broader one-world movement. The seeds for twentieth-century ecumenism were sown in the late 1800s. During that time there was a growing interest in achieving unity for the alleged purpose of building an earthly utopia. Masonically-inspired organizations, ranging from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to the Theosophical Society, were busy laying the groundwork for the next century, which they hoped might finally usher in their long-awaited new world order.
Against this backdrop, religious leaders from around the world gathered in Chicago for an unprecedented ecumenical event – the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions (also known as the Parliament of World Religions). The people who attended this international conference came from a variety of faiths. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and a host of others prayed and dialogued together for seventeen days. This was the largest interfaith leadership conference of its kind up to that time.
In the following decades, two catastrophic world wars were fought, each adding to the one-world movement’s momentum. World War I resulted in the League of Nations and World War II led to the United Nations. Both were created in the name of world peace. These institutions would give the secret societies a focal point around which they could rally religious leaders. The public, worn down from years of war, was ready to accept a new approach to maintaining peace. The United Nations was presented as the only hope for peace between nations and unity among the world’s religions.
Riding this crest of postwar sentiment, global planners seized the moment, attempting to unite the Protestant denominations through one organization. Although the spirit of ecumenism had been alive for decades, the founding of the pro-U.N. World Council of Churches in 1948 marked the beginning of the modern ecumenical era.
Strongly influenced by the Masonic Lodge and with funding from major “old money” sources such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Council of Churches (WCC) embarked on its mission. From the time of its first meeting in Amsterdam its purpose was clear: to help create the religious atmosphere for achieving a new world order. In a report issued in 1994 at one of its meetings in Jerusalem, the WCC confirmed this intention, stating: “After the second world war, the establishment of the World Council of Churches in 1948 signalled the resolve of the ecumenical community both to work for the fuller unity of the church and to participate in the struggle for a new just world order.”
While the efforts of the World Council of Churches have been paramount in bringing some of the Protestant denominations together, no event would give greater momentum to the ecumenical movement than Vatican II. The Catholic Encyclopedia proudly boasts, “The greatest religious event of the twentieth century, whose teachings and clarifications have yet to reach their full impact, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council, called Vatican II or the Second Vatican Council.”
Vatican II, which opened on October 11, 1962 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, added fuel to the growing ecumenical movement and helped pave the way for the acceptance of interfaithism. Pope John XXIII resided over the Council’s proceedings. According to M. Basil Pennington, a prominent Catholic priest, the Council urged “all Christians…to act positively to preserve and even promote all that is good in other religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and other world religions.” To carry out this interfaith directive, the Vatican Council established the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which would eventually be renamed the Secretariat for World Religions.
Years later, Pope John Paul II would take the Council’s initiatives a step further by holding an actual interfaith summit in Assisi, Italy (discussed in my book). This 1986 gathering, consisting of leaders from the world’s major religions, and initiated by the Pope himself, would represent a visible transition from “ecumenism” to “interfaithism.”
Although these terms are often used interchangeably today, historically the public has viewed ecumenism as an effort aimed at unifying Christian churches. Interfaithism, on the other hand, has been perceived as a broader attempt to unify the world’s religions. In spite of the public’s perception, beneath the surface, ecumenism and interfaithism have been intertwined. The fact is, ecumenism has been used by New Age religious planners as a springboard to interfaithism. Once most of Christendom had been brought together under a false unity, it was thought that Christianity might be prepared to go the next step by merging with the other religions.
Regarding the spiritual condition of the world in the latter days Jesus warned that “even the elect” would be deceived if that were possible (Matt 24:24). What better way to deceive believers than through a false unity which has the appearance of Christianity, but is actually rooted in pantheism and the occult?
During the next few months, as religious and political events unfold and the new millennium approaches, we will keep you abreast of ways in which the New Age/one-world movement is advancing its agenda – especially as it relates to Christians. It is my sincere hope and prayer that our articles will not only inform you but will encourage biblical discernment and obedience to God’s Word!
http://www.garykah.org/article10.html
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A LIST OF NEW WORLD ORDER EVENTS IN THE YEAR 2000
MINI-DESPATCH, February 12, 2000.
From W.B. Howard, editor of Despatch magazine.
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Year 2000 Calendar of Events
This calendar represents only a partial listing of the most significant one world events scheduled for next year. New events may be announced. (Permission to copy this calendar and the attached letter is granted and encouraged.)
December 24, 1999 – December 31, 2000: “Holy Year 2000”
Where: Rome, Italy
From Christmas 1999 to 2000, the Vatican is expecting millions of tourists to visit the basilicas of Rome in celebration of Catholicism’s Great Jubilee. Throughout the year, a multitude of events and announcements will take place. There will be interfaith meetings promoting religious unity, as well as proposals to eliminate world debt through new economic structures.
December 31, 1999 – January 2, 2000: “72 Hours”
Where: Global
“72 Hours” is an interfaith bridge building project of the United Religions Initiative – the UN associated world interfaith body. Throughout these 3 days, groups of people from around the world will engage in inter religious peace and unity initiatives.
December 31, 1999 – January 1, 2000: “Millennium Celebrations at the Great Pyramids of Giza”
Where: Egypt
This massive celebration, involving many of the world’s top political and economic leaders, will feature a spectacular multimedia sound and light show designed to welcome in the “golden age” of the new millennium. To cement this New Year’s Eve party, a gold covered capstone will be air-lifted and placed on top of the now-capless Great Pyramid of Cheops, symbolizing the dawn of the new occult order. This event hicks off the Millennium Symposium.
January 1-3, 2000: “Millennium Symposium on Great Challenges of Our Time”
Where: Egypt, Great Pyramids of Giza
The Millennium Symposium is a three-day event sponsored by UNESCO and produced by the Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations IJniversity. During these three days a host of speakers and workshops will focus on the upcoming global changes facing humanity, including issues of world governance, the creation of a global sustainable society, and the shaping of new planetary security strategies.
January 25,26: “North American Regional Hearings for the Millennium”
Where: Chicago, IL
Convened by the Gorbachev Foundation’s State of the World Forum at the behest of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations. This Chicago based event will focus on “Strengthening the U.N. for the Challenges of the 215′ Century. ” The goal of the event is to provide direction and prepare for the up-coming UN Millennium Assembly.
March: “Pope John Paul II Trip to the Middle East”
Where: Israel & Other Nations to be Announced
This historic event will publicly place Pope John Paul in an unprecedented position of influence within the Middle East peace process. Vatican officials have already met with Palestinian and Israeli authorities to work out the details of the Pontiff s visit. The Pope’s mission: to bring peace and religious unity to the region and the world.
March 20: “World Citizenship Day”
Where: San Francisco, CA
On the first day of spring, the Association of World Citizens will host the first annual world citizenship event, which is intended to foster planetary allegiance and promote global government. As San Francisco was the founding city of the United Nations, so too it will be the home city of this expected-to-be annual world event.
March 24-26: “United Religions Initiative European Conference”
Where: Budapest, Hungary
The URI European Conference will be held with the aim of furthering the URI global interfaith program. It will pave the way for bold new religious initiatives to be presented later in the year.
April 3-7: “First Global People’s Assembly”
Where: Apia, Samoa
Hosted by the Samoa United Nations Association, this event is intended to regionally pave the way for the UN Millennium Assembly.
April 22: “Earth Day 2000″
Where: Global
“More than 300 million people in 150 nations are expected to participate in the largest Earth Day ever. It will also be the 30th anniversary of Earth Day.” Thousands of local and regional events are being planned to honor “Earth” at this time.
May 22-24: “Millennium International Children’s Conference”
Where: Eastbourne, United Kingdom
Organized by the United Nations, this global event is expected to bring together one thousand children to participate in discussions on “Sharing the Planet,” “Water is Life,” and other earth centered themes. Participants will approve an environmental plan of action to be presented to governments and people worldwide.
May 22-26: “NGO Millennium Forum”
Where: New York, NY
Non Government Organizations (NGOs) from around the world will gather at the United Nations to strategize for the Fall United Nations Millennium Assembly. The NGO Millennium Forum will seek to establish a new world vision and a global decision making process.
June 1-October 31: “Expo 2000”
Where: Hannover, Germany
This international conference will analyze the progress of the United Nations Agenda 21 program for world change. It will examine the Agenda’s affect on global society and determine what new steps need to be taken.
June 26: “United Religions Initiative Global Assembly”
Where: San Francisco, CA
This “Global Assembly” will witness the signing of the official URI Charter. It is anticipated that 60 million signatures will be obtained from people around the world in support of the URI and its Charter, leading to the birth of the United Religions Organization.
July 23-25: “FutureFocus 2000: Changes, Challenges & Choices”
Where: Houston, TX
This annual meeting of the World Future Society will examine the latest developments and trends shaping the new world civilization. Recommendations will be given.
August 24: “Meta-Nation 2000”
Where: Denver, CO
Meta-Nation 2000 is a “citizen initiative” aimed at establishing a “meta-nation” in which all of society can live and work in the new millennium. Towards this end, a “Constitutional Convention” is planned to be held in Denver to form a “space governance entity” and to raise massive private funds to accomplish this feat
August 12-15: “Humanity 3000 Symposium”
Where: Seattle, WA
“This will be an international symposium of approximately 100 of the world’s most prominent scholars, scientists, philosophers, humanists, historians, technologists and futurists, who will be brought together in the first of a series of international symposia. ” The purpose of this symposium is to review and identify the most important factors that affect global society and develop ideas and methods to address these issues.
August 28,29: “Millennium Summit of Religious Leaders”
Where: New York, NY
World religious leaders will discuss and celebrate global interfaithism in light of the new millennium.
September “Middle East Peace Signing”
Where: Israel
This is the month that a comprehensive peace agreement is to be signed, moving the entire region, specifically Israel, to embrace proposed dispute settlements. President Bill Clinton has already “vowed to do everything he can to broker a comprehensive regional settlement by the time he leaves office. ” Keep watch as the continuing bid for Israel and the city of Jerusalem unfolds.
September 5-9: “State of the World Forum”
Where: New York, NY
Gorbachev’s State of the World Forum, in conjunction with a host of UN agencies, will convene its annual gathering of world leaders to correspond with the UN Millennium Assembly. Discussions will focus on the future of the United Nations and increasing its authority through world law.
September 6: “United Nations Millennium Assembly and Summit”
Where: New York, NY
One of the most important events of the year. Thousands of leaders from around the world will gather in New York City to take part in the UN Millennium Assembly and Summit. It is at this point that solid new directions on the implementation of global government are expected, including possible UN Charter revisions. It is hoped that a parallel People’s Assembly (a People’s World Parliament) will become a permanent feature at the United Nations, where Non Governmental Organizations from around the world would have a voice in the creation of a new world civilization.
December 1-6: “Social Transformation In The Asia Pacific Region”
Where: University of Wollongong and the University of Newcastle, Australia
This conference, organized by the Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies and UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations Programme, will be aimed at globalizing and transforming the world’s geo-political regions. The producer of this event, the American Council for the United Nations University, is working in cooperation with Egypt’s United Nations Resident Coordinator, the World Future Society, the Millennium Society, the Smithsonian Institute, Futures Group International, Cairo University, and the UNESCO Regional Office. Funding for the event is coming from General Motors, The Foundation for the Future, the Alan F. Kay and Hazel Henderson Foundation for Social Innovation, Deloite & Touche, the United Nations University, and the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute. Event speakers include Ismail Serageldin, VP of the World Bank and Chairman of the World Water Commission; Hans van Ginkel, Undersecretary General of the United Nations and Rector of the UN University; and Kennedy Graham, Director of the United Nations University International Leadership Academy.
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Calendar prepared by
EIope For The World
P.O. Box 899
Noblesville IN 46061-0899
317-290-HOPE (4673)
http://www.garykahorg
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/nwo.html
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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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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:
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?
3. What did Jesus say about other spiritual paths?
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
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).
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]
This video and this article have the same name but are from different sources. The video IS a must see. It is 120 minutes in length but well worth the time.
By George Stamm
If you were to ask ten people on the street if mankind’s activities are causing global warming, my guess is that a majority would say yes. In fact, a Gallup poll conducted July 23-26, 2007 found that 63% believed that global warming is caused mostly by human activities. But is this perception of global warming based on fact or just misguided opinion?
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). These organizations shared the 2007 Noble Peace Prize with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore. These two U.N. organizations form a scientific body given the task of evaluating the risk of climate change caused by human activity. In 2005 the IPCC released a report saying that since the mid-twentieth century, the surface temperature of the earth has been rising steadily.
Mr. Gore and his colleagues at the IPCC maintain that there is an increase in global average temperatures, due to man-made intervention resulting in a “greenhouse effect.” They also say that natural phenomena, such as solar variation, combined with volcanoes, had little effect on global warming from pre-industrial times until 1950, and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward.
These conclusions have been endorsed by at least thirty scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. However, there are many scientists, some who have served on the IPCC panel, who have voiced disagreement with many of the findings of the IPCC. One noted biologist and ecologist Dr. Michael Coffman, Executive Director of Environmental Perspectives, Inc. and CEO of Sovereignty International, said in his presentation, Global Warming or Global Governance, “The global warming climate change issue is so important that people on both sides of the issue, including policymakers should be fully informed before policy is actually formulated. Tragically, that’s not happening in the global warming issue.” Coffman further says that what is being proposed by Al Gore and his colleagues is that man is primarily causing a global warming effect, but there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary put forth by prominent scientists from around the world.
According to Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) on the Foreign Relations Committee, “This cuts at the heart of national sovereignty of the U.S. We would be saying that we would allow an international body to come in and dictate to our industries, our businesses, our people, what they can do and what they can’t do; the use of what energy, the sources of energy, the cost of energy, etc.”
These concerns about the policymaking of such international organizations like the IPCC have led many to question whether this is an issue of global warming or global governance.
The major premise of “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore is that carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas that drives the temperature of the earth.” According to scientific data studied by scientists such as Dr. Ian Clark, “Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) lags behind temperature changes in history by 800 years; CO2 doesn’t cause temperature change.” And according to Professor Tim Ball, Dept. of Climatology at the University of Winnipeg, “Based on the evidence of ice core studies at the polar ice caps, it shows that CO2 follows temperature, not the opposite. So the fundamental assumption of the whole theory of climate change by human intervention of CO2 emissions causing temperature changes is wrong.”
Dr. John Christy, Atmospheric Physicist at the University of Alabama and leading author of IPCC report now says “human intervention accounts for a small fraction of CO2 of the atmospheric gases in the atmosphere; that water vapor accounts for about 97% of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. CO2 accounts for 1.9%. Therefore, man is responsible for less than 3% of all greenhouse effect in the atmosphere globally.”
Also highlighted in Al Gore’s “an Inconvenient Truth” presentation is a temperature study report using the MBH Report of 1998, showing significant temperatures rising in the last century like never before in history. What Mr. Gore’s presentation does not show is that the MBH report, named after the authors, Mann, Bradley, Hughes, was wrong and incomplete according to another report that was subsequently released revealing flaws in Geophysical Research Letters by Professors McIntyre and McKitrick in 2006.
In August, Khabibullo Abdusamatov, a scientist who heads the space research sector for the Russian Academy of Sciences, predicted long-term global cooling may be on the horizon due to a projected decrease in the sun’s output. There have also been recent findings in peer-reviewed literature over the last few years showing that the Antarctic is getting colder and the ice is growing, and a 2006 study in Geophysical Research Letters found that the sun was responsible for up to 50% of 20th Century warming. According to data released on July 14, 2006 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the January through June Alaska statewide average temperature was “0.55F (0.30C) cooler than the 1971-2000 average.”
“My concern is that we may be moving away from an irrational lack of concern about climate change to an equally irrational panic about it,” said Daniel Botkin, president of the Center for the Study of the Environment and professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at U.C. Santa Barbara. He is the author of Discordant Harmonies: ANew Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. “Many of my colleagues ask, ‘What’s the problem? Hasn’t it been a good thing to raise public concern?’”
According to Botkin, “The problem is that in this panic, we are going to spend our money unwisely, we will take actions that are counterproductive, and we will fail to do many of those things that will benefit the environment and ourselves. For example, right now the clearest threat to many species is habitat destruction. Take the orangutans, for instance, one of those charismatic species that people are often fascinated by and concerned about. They are endangered because of deforestation. In our fear of global warming, it would be sad if we fail to find funds to purchase those forests before they are destroyed, and thus let this species go extinct. At the heart of the matter is how much faith we decide to put in science, even how much faith scientists put in science. Our times have benefited from clear-thinking, science-based rationality. I hope this prevails as we try to deal with our changing climate.”
So what is behind the hysteria to promote global warming as a reality?
Matthew Vadum, Senior Editor and former CRC research fellow, veteran journalist and editor of “Organization Trends and Foundation Watch” spent seven years at the Washington bureau of “The Bond Buyer,” a daily Wall Street financial newspaper.
In a commentary on April 1, 2008, Mr. Vadum said, “Co-founder of IPCC Al Gore is trying to be a climate change profiteer. Essentially, he wants to make a fortune by creating a new market for a product that he is attempting to create by legislative fiat. If he succeeds and carbon emissions trading comes to the United States, Al Gore will be uniquely positioned to cash in. He’s made sure of that.”
According to Vadum, “Gore himself is chairman and founder of a private equity firm called Generation Investment Management (GIM). He says the London-based firm invests money from institutions and wealthy investors in companies that are becoming environmentally friendly, to use green parlance. GIM appears to have considerable influence over major carbon credit trading firms: the U.S.-based Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and the U.K.-based Carbon Neutral Company (CNC). CCX appears to be the only firm in the U.S. that claims to trade carbon credits. As a politician, Gore speaks warmly of transparency. But as GIM chairman, Gore has not been forthcoming. Little is known about his shadowy firm’s finances, where it gets funding and what projects it supports.”
As reported in the August 2007 issue of Foundation Watch (“Al Gore’s Carbon Crusade: The Money and Connections Behind It,” by Deborah Corey Barnes), with help from friends at Goldman Sachs, including U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the investment bank’s former CEO Hank Paulson, Gore has created a web of organizations to promote the so-called climate crisis. Meanwhile, Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection is pushing for tougher environmental regulations on the private sector. It wants “cap-and-trade” legislation enacted so that companies will be forced to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and buy carbon credits. Untold billions of dollars could be generated in a brand new U.S. carbon market. When Gore’s potential for immense profits is factored in, the $300 million outlay for ads (some of which is likely to come from donations to the Alliance’s “We Campaign”) seems like a drop in the bucket. If Gore can keep up the pressure for carbon emissions restrictions, he could end up a very wealthy man.”
Why does Al Gore use this Madison Ave. means to instill fear to ratify the Kyoto Protocol of the IPCC to impose international solutions to stop global warming?
Don Young of Alaska, Former Chairman of the House Resource Committee, says that the environment is being used as a power struggle, to cause the U.S. to submit to a one world government. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md) US House of Representative says he’s troubled that there is a tendency now to submerge the sovereignty of the U.S. to the will of the United Nations Organizations.
Bill Clinton appointed a long time friend and colleague Nelson Strobridge “Strobe” Talbott, as a personal advisor on foreign policy, particularly in connection with Russian policy. Talbott also served at the Yale Center for Studies in Globalization. Talbott also wrote an article in Time magazine in July 20, 1992 called “The Birth of the Global Nation.” In this article Talbott predicted US relinquishing its authority to a single global authority. For that he received an award from the World Federalist Association, a group committed to world government, as well as a congratulatory letter from Bill Clinton.
As Phyllis Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum, a conservative activist group in US since 1967, said concerning Strobe Talbott, that he knew that Americans would never vote for a world government, so instead Talbott and others like him, talk about global governance, a global village, a global economy. They talk about reforming the UN and expanding NATO. Their answer always lies in more international agencies such as the IPCC wielding more control and power over U.S. citizens. And all of these international agencies are gaining their controls and powers from the UN, an international agency with its own agenda and not always in the best interests of the U.S.
Schlafly further contends that “The consensus in Kyoto as outlined in the IPCC report will bind America to reduce energy consumption by 25%, which will have a devastating effect on the American standard of living and the U.S. economy. It will continue to drive more industries out of America for a more global economy.”
The record shows that presently $4 Billion per year is being spent on global warming research. Much of the funding for these research projects have been put together by “Public-Private-Partnerships” composed of multi-national corporations and NGO’s promoting the one world government concept. Since none of these entities are elected, there is little to no accountability to the electorate of the U.S. These partnerships then are free to impose their will on people with no punitive measures. Partnerships like this, which Al Gore is part of, have given them the platform to introduce such entities as the IPCC and the Kyoto Protocol on environmental studies as a stepping stone to control the national and local economy of the U.S., such as the carbon tax put before congress at this time.
This is the essence of Global Governance and strategies for a New World Order. Perhaps this is what people like Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank had in mind when he introduced the new business organization “Association of American Free Trade Agreements” before President Bush in 2006. The AAFTA is a separate “non-government” entity to develop a common market and common deregulations for the benefit of the multi-national corporations involved; all sanctioned by top government officials and all supporting and promoting the IPCC Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially nations like India and China. This has resulted in many of the business entities realizing profits as high as 45% while wages for average Americans have dropped significantly.
This information is in the public domain and begs the question; is Global Warming an established fact as some globalists promote or does the evidence indicate that globalists are using tools like the IPCC and global warming to impose global governance in the U.S.? Let the reader decide.
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/opinion/golbal-warming-governance-2343.html
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Gary Kah had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home, by his immigrant parents, and remembers praying at the early age of four. He accepted Christ as his personal Savior during a Jack Van Impe Crusade. Shortly after that, Gary was greatly impacted as he began to understand what really happened during World War II. Hearing war stories from his father, who fled both the Nazis and Communists as a young boy in Yugoslavia, Gary couldn’t understand why most Christians did nothing to stop the atrocities. As a sixth-grader, he remembers silently promising the Lord that if something like this were to ever happen in America, he would take a stand against it, whatever the cost.
He met his future wife, Audrey, while they were both students at Anderson University. Graduating Magna Cum Laude with majors in Economics, Business Administration and German, Gary’s main focus was International Marketing and Economics. Gary and Audrey were married after graduation, and soon afterward moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where Gary was offered a position as a European and Middle East Trade Specialist with the Indiana Government. This position enabled him to travel to more than 20 countries worldwide and to work closely with U.S. Embassies and top government officials in the area of export promotion.
As Gary traveled worldwide, he soon began to witness events that appeared to be leading to a one world government. He quickly identified that there was a definite plan in place to unite all world governments into one. This emerging one world government, he discovered, was being referred to as: The New World Order. He observed that, among the circles that were working toward this goal, there was much occult activity. This stretched to many U.N. Officials, U.S. Government leaders, bankers, and even “religious” figures.
Gary was feeling an intense burden to do something to warn people of these unfolding events. In the summer of 1984, Gary’s ministry began in earnest. He started by addressing small church groups and then was invited to share on some radio programs. His outspoken style about his beliefs finally led to an ultimatum that forced him to choose between his calling and his career. So, in May, 1985, after one last trip overseas to the Soviet Union and China, Gary resigned from his job.
In 1987, Gary was invited to join the World Constitution and Parliament Association, one of the organizations involved at the forefront of promoting the world government agenda. During the next four years he obtained detailed documents which demonstrate that the move toward a one world government is very real and active.
Since then, he has been speaking and writing to all kinds of audiences, informing them of the soon-coming, prophecy-fulfilling one world government and other kinds of conspiracies. While this cloak-and-dagger style of prophecy-watching may not be for everyone, Gary Kah handles himself with a lot of finesse and very little smoke and mirrors.
His book, En Route to Global Occupation (1992), has a message that is crucial to the political, economic and spiritual future of this country. It is the result of more than seven years of research and is filled with documentation proving that the drive toward a one-world government is real.
In 1997, Gary believed that God was leading him to write a book that chronicled the past, present and future of the one world movement by examining the lives and plans of the 20th century’s top New Agers and how certain unbiblical Eastern teachings are influencing Christianity today. His book, The New World Religion (1999), has influenced many Christian believers to be more discerning. It has also been instrumental in leading numerous New Agers to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior.
This book differentiates between authentic biblical Christianity and the occult teachings of the “New Age” by explaining the religious underpinnings of this dangerous movement. It discusses the spiritual forces behind those pursuing world government and the concurrent plans for a one world religion. Key to understanding these implications is grasping the truth of the facade of global unity.
Over the years, Gary has received several awards. He was honored with the Governor’s Commendation for outstanding service to the State of Indiana. Later, he received the Meritorious Hoosier Award, from the Indiana Secretary of State. Anderson College recognized him with The Anderson College Wall Street Journal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Economics. Kah was named among the “Who’s Who in the Midwest” and also among the “Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America.”
While Gary Kah’s beliefs have long been on the fringes of acceptable prophecy teachings, he is rapidly becoming highly respected as society clearly moves toward the one world government that Kah has been predicting. Many people have yet to embrace the conspiracy views that Kah holds, but, because he is so well-respected, most will not discount them completely. Keep your eye on Kah while he keeps his finger on the pulse of the world.
By: Nicole Balnius
http://www.raptureready.com/who/Gary_Kah.html
IN THIS VIDEO: Gary Kah, author of “En Route to Global occupation”, tells us about 3 meetings of the UN and global powers that happened in 2000 that began the “unveiling” and public implementation of the New World Order. Then Gary tells of about 20 meetings among the power elite that have happened, or will happen, in 2008 uniting the world Economies, Religions and abolishing national boundaries and sovereignty. WLECOME TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER.
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The Gospel According to Oprah
According to Oprah Winfrey’s introduction page on the world-wide-web, the Oprah Winfrey Show is the highest-rated talk show in television history, seen by 15-20 million viewers each day in the U.S. in 205 television markets, and in 132 countries. In fact, it has been the number one talk show for 12 consecutive seasons. Since it’s beginning in 1986 it has received 32 Emmy awards.
In 1996, Oprah began Oprah’s Book Club designed to get America reading again. Each of the books selected has become an instant bestseller averaging sales of over 1 million copies each.
In 1997, Oprah was named Newsweek’s “Most Important Person” in books and media, T.V. Guide’s “Television Performer of the Year,” the People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Television Performer,” and in 1996, Time Magazine recognized Oprah as one of America’s “25 Most Influential People.”
Tragically, America is almost obsessed with celebrity idol worship. Recent Gallup polls demonstrated how true this is when it asked Americans to list and rank the most influential women in recorded history. Oprah Winfrey ranked fourth! There is a common recognizable refrain that “When Oprah speaks, people listen.”
However, the primary issue here is not that Americans tend to look to media celebrities as role models, although these people lead probably some of the least ideal lives to emulate. The issue before us is the steady stream of messages and advice that Oprah and her favorite guests communicate to the millions of people who are starved for meaning and purpose in life.
Clearly, Oprah Winfrey has been converted into the New Age Movement. And one of the biggest deceptions is that she apparently doesn’t know it. Many of her favorite guests are major New Age proponents and authors, and Oprah contributes to the enormous popularity and sales of their books.
Some of these New Age guests (and a number of them make repeat appearances) are, Marianne Williamson, Barbara DeAngelis, LaVar Burton, Richard Carlson, Betty Eadie, Dannion Brinkley, M. Scott Peck, Sophy Burnham, Marilyn Ferguson, Kevin Ryerson, Shirley MacLaine, Sara Breathnach, James Hillman, and psychic medium and best-selling author, James Van Praagh.
Oprah is on a mission. Repeatedly stated, her “mission” is, “I want people to see things on our show that makes them think differently about their lives…To be a light for people. To make a difference…to open their minds and see things differently…how to get in touch with the spiritual part of their life.” Unfortunately, the “light” Oprah offers is the “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and “opening their minds,” in this case means their brains fall out-they become empty headed (Romans 1:21-25).
Oprah was raised in a black Baptist church in Mississippi. It is not known whether she had a healthy exposure to Christianity or a distorted one, but she is clearly in the process of deconstructing Christianity and reframing it into a New Age perspective.
One of the most revealing examples was a recent show with guests Betty Eadie, (new age/Mormon author of Embraced By The Light and The Awakening Heart), Dannion Brinkley (new age author of near death experience books Saved By The Light, and At Peace With in the Light) and Sophy Burnham (new age author of A Book of Angels and Angel Letters).
During the show Oprah related, “I was raised a Baptist and we were too hung up on traditional ways. I was sitting in church and heard that God is a jealous God. I asked ‘Why?’ Come on-let’s get over it!” She related a “jealous God” to an insecure God.
In the program Oprah revealed that she doesn’t think God is hung up on what you believe about God-whatever that “force” is, it doesn’t care what you call it. He doesn’t have an ego problem. She states, “I believe in the FORCE-I call it God.” She also said if you believe in a rhythm of nature and in love, then you believe in God.
Oprah, in typical New Age fashion, has reduced God to human limitations, and dismisses objective absolutes, substituting emotions as the criteria of truth. This constant refrain of a nebulous concept of love as a guiding principle is very deceptive.
God warns us that the heart is very deceptive (Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 12:20). Jesus warns that the heart is an untrustworthy guide for truth, especially the “uncircumcised” heart (Matthew 12:33-35, 15:18,19). New Agers have raised the level of feelings or emotions (intuition) as a navigator beyond all rational proportions.
Particularly instructive for us all is the fact that Oprah doesn’t seem to be aware that she has been seduced deeply into the New Age world-view. We say instructive because one could relate to the subtle and deceptive processes that Oprah appears to have fallen prey to.
On one recent show a Christian in the audience challenged Oprah about being a “New Ager.” Oprah responded, “I am not new age anything and I resent being called that. I am just trying to open a door so that people can see themselves more clearly and perhaps be the light to get them to God, whatever they may call that. I don’t see spirits in the trees and I don’t sit in the room with crystals.”
Oprah has made the mistake of narrowly defining the New Age Movement. However, read the following beliefs expressed by Oprah over the last few years.
Oprah’s close friend and sometimes guest, Shirley MacLaine described on a show how to meditate, going inside yourself, asking your own “intuitive Self” to seek answers to life’s questions. Oprah responds, “You know, that is the same as the Bible says, ‘Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find’.” Shirley confirms.
Oprah then asks Shirley, “When you connected to the higher Self…knowing that you can do anything that you want to do-is it what other people describe as being ‘born again’?” Shirley nods, “Yes, probably.”
It is amazing that so few people catch the duplicity of New Agers when they attack the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible and the Christian church, but then quote it-almost always out of context-or twist it so support their position. For example, Oprah had as her guests a New Age panel consisting of Don Curtis (a Unity minister and trance-channeler), Kevin Reyerson (Shirley MacLaine’s channeler), and Marilyn Ferguson (New Age leader and author of The Aquarian Conspiracy. After comparing the evolution of the New Age Movement in our culture with the “new understanding” advent of the Protestant Reformation, Oprah states, “As I read more of Shirley MacLaine, crystals, and The Aquarian Conspiracy, it seems to me to say what the Bible has said for years. It is just that many of us were brought up with a more restricted, limited vision of what the Bible said.”
(The Christian should require Oprah or other New Ager to explain on what basis they reject the clear historical communication in literary forms of the Bible in lieu of their very subjective, esoteric, surrealistic interpretations).
Don Curtis responds that the problem comes from “the literal interpretation within denominationalism, because no one really knows, (apparently no one but Mr. Curtis) through the filter of translation down through the ages, what the Bible really says…most of it and reincarnation was thrown out in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicea.” Oprah responds, “Right.”
When this kind of pseudo-scholarship goes unchallenged the effect can be serious. How many non-Christians or even Christians are knowledgeable of church history, the early church councils and the science of Biblical textural criticism which through tedious research and archeology has allowed us to see how accurate and preserved the Bible is? Very few; and certainly not Oprah.
Oprah also related that, “One of the most important books I’ve read is Eric Buttterworth’s (a New Age Unity leader) Discover the Power Within You. In it he said “Jesus did not come to teach us how divine He was but to teach that divinity was within us.” Later she said that “It (claiming exclusive Divinity) would make Jesus the biggest egotist that ever lived.”
On the recent show with new age panel Betty Eadie, Sophy Burnham, and Dannion Brinkley, Oprah positively alluded to the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, stating in summary, “..that one of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe that there is only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God.”
When corrected by a Christian in the audience that Jesus said He was the only Way, the panel lost their composure, coming unglued. Oprah reacted, “There couldn’t possibly be only one way…Does God care about your heart or whether you called His Son Jesus?”
Oprah’s consistent theme is to inspire people to take control of their lives, to not be controlled by others or by circumstances. She is always advising “You can choose what happens.” While there is some truth and value to this philosophy it is fatally tied to the New Age philosophy. As Oprah states, “You are responsible for your life-the power of God is within you [whether you are a Christian or not], above you and through you. You control your life.”
What this fails to acknowledge is that man does not define reality; man does not determine what truth is. The source of truth for our decisions and power is the one true God of all reality and He has communicated plenary propositional truths to us in the Bible and remarkably, uniquely in His incarnation in Jesus Christ.
Oprah, as with other New Agers, is not in pursuit and in communion with God but is in pursuit with the “image of God”-by elevating man to Divinity. The problem with this is the God of the universe has not called us to join ourselves to the creation but to Himself, “the Creator who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:25).
For an expanded version of this article or additional information regarding this subject contact our Birmingham office and request, “The Gospel According to Oprah.”
http://www.wfial.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=artNewAge.article_1
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For nearly two thousand years, Christians have pondered the end-time prophecy’s of the New Testament, and especially the revelation of John. In his apocalyptic writing he described the coming of a diabolical world leader called the “Beast” or the “Antichrist,” who would arise among a one world religion and government in the last days (Rev. 13:2).
During the recent years of international turmoil and crisis, an enormous neopolitical/religious order, called the New Age movement, has quietly emerged. They are made up of a world-wide network of thousands of cooperating organizations. They are united under the common bond of esoteric or occult teachings, with the goal of forming a “one world order.”
Many students of Bible prophecy have carefully watched the development of this movement, and feel that this may very well be that predicted entity from which the Antichrist will emerge.
A Brief History of the New Age Movement
The origin of the movement dates back to at least 1875 with the theosophical teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and later in the 1920’s with the teachings of Alice Ann Bailey. The Theosophical Society, as it was called, espoused the abolishment of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, promoting the unity of other world religions. They claimed that their teachings were revealed by “spirit” or elemental guides (demons). They emphasized heavily the evolution of a self deified, master aryan society, and a one world “new age” religion and social order.
In 1922, Baily founded the “Lucifer Publishing Company,” which printed and distributed their teachings (Lucifer was Satan’s first name). These teachings were very complete in their intent and goals. Step by step they plotted the coming new age with instructions for the institution of the necessary new world order.
Baily’s teachings established the symbol of a rainbow as their identification sign, and discussed extensively, plans for religious war, forced redistribution of the world’s resources, mass planetary initiations, theology for a new world order, world-wide disarmament, and elimination of obstinate religions. She even discussed the sacredness of the new world leader’s number, 666 (the number of the Beast).
The Present New Age Movement
Today, the New Age movement appears to be a loose knit group of innocent organizations with ambiguous goals or leadership. But beneath the surface there is a definite, organized, secret leadership and strategy which guides the vast movement. The main body of leadership resides in an organization called “The Planetary Initiative For The World We Choose.”
One of their most celebrated demonstrations of unity and public relations occurred on August 16-17, 1988. Over eighty million New Agers unified themselves for what was called the largest assembly of mass meditation in history. Widely reported by the news media, the “Harmonic Convergence,” also referred to as the “Planetary Surrender,” occurred simultaneously in nearly every nation and major city. Led and organized largely by 144,000 Shamans, witches, witch doctors and a whole assortment of New Age mystics, they joined in a period of meditation agreement for the release of “spiritual forces” which would bring about their desire for a “one world government and world religion.” Only two years earlier, on December 31, 1986, a slightly smaller gathering of fifty million New Age adherents joined in meditation for the purpose to “alter the manner which humanity understands reality.”
In actuality, these gatherings of meditation were acts of worship and service to the Devil. One can only imagine what kind of demons and evil spiritual forces were unleashed upon the world as witch doctors, shamans and mystics called upon the powers of darkness to distort humanity’s perception of truth.
Is it no wonder that evil and wickedness has intensified in the world since that time? Think of the power of God that could be released if eighty million Christians combined their faith in one massive prayer meeting!
Who They Are And What They Believe
Publications which list the numerous cooperating groups are the “Spiritual Community Guide,” and “The New Age Magazine,” with thousands of listings. New agers claim that all mind science groups are a part of the new age. They also include various occult groups, mystic religions, witchcraft organizations, pagan religions, ecological organizations, neopolicital and secular organizations. In the U.S. and Canada over ten thousand organizations are identified as New Age, such as “Amnesty International, Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, Zero Population, The Guardian Angels,” and thousands of other secular and religious organizations. Other groups synonymous with the New Age are “The Age of Aquarius, The Aquarian Conspiracy, The Human Potential Movement, The Holistic Movement, Humanistic Psychology,” and a host of others.
The modern New Age movement has a definite agenda which has been agreed upon by their constituents. Adopted much after the same original ideals as Alice Ann Baily, the manifesto of the New Age movement calls for a:
(1) New world order
(2) Universal credit card system
(3) World food authority
(4) World Health Authority
(5) World water authority
(6) Universal tax
(7) Universal military draft
(8) Abolishing of Christianity, Judaism and Islam
(9) One world leader
After extensive analysis of its teachings and goals, expert political scientists agree that the New Age movement parallels the ideals and philosophy of Nazism of the 1930’s and 1940’s. New Age writings even claim that leaders such as Adolph Hitler and Jim Jones were disciples of the movement. Before the Jonestown, Guyana massacre, Jones’ Peoples Temple was listed as a New Age “Spiritual Center,” in the “Spiritual Community Guide” (a handbook for New Agers).
The Coming Antichrist
In the late 1980’s, prominent New Agers, David Spangler and Benjamin Creme ran full page ads in many of the world’s newspapers announcing the soon appearance of the “Christ.” This personality was introduced as the “Lord Maitraya,” alleged to be a world-class “messiah” and great teacher whom they claimed would bring world peace and solutions to the worlds problems. To date, their Maitraya has not yet emerged as a celebrated leader, and may not. But the aspirations of Creme, Spangler and other New Agers are clearly seen. They are seeking a man, whether god or devil, who will be their image of a messiah, coming to save the planet.
Finally, what we know about the New Age movement so far is this: It is extremely large and is made up of an extensive network of mystic, occultish figures devoted to the goals of a forced global government and religion. They have expressed their rejection and hostility toward Christianity and other major religions, and seek to establish a universal leader who will fulfill the description of a satanic deity.
Truly there has never been a more ideal environment to produce that man of deception, the personification of the Devil himself. And if this is the organization of the Beast, we know that this means the rapture, the tribulation period, and the second coming of Jesus Christ is close at hand (2 Thes. 2:2-9, Rev. 13:11-18).
Acknowledgments:
“Dark Secrets of the New Age,” Texe Marrs
“The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow,” Constance Cumbey
http://www.victorious.org/newage.htm
ANOTHER POST ON THIS BLOG about the New Age Movement. New Age Movement W/ Constance Cumbey (hidden dangers of the rainbow) video
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