Under the Spell of Mother Earth, 1995
Chapter 9
Can Global Oneness Save the Earth?
Skip down to Global Islam or Syncretism
|
|
Under the Spell of Mother Earth, 1995Chapter 9 Can Global Oneness Save the Earth?Skip down to Global Islam or Syncretism |
|
"Both science and the teachings of Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things. This understanding is crucial if we are to take positive and decisive steps on the pressing global concerns with the environment."
The Dalai Lama, My Tibet1"I pledge allegiance to the soil ... / one ecosystem/ in diversity/ under the sun-/ With joyful interpenetration for all."
Gary Snyder, poet2"The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies.... And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." Revelation 13:5-8
LIKE OTHER COMMUNITIES around our nation, my hometown publicized its list of 1990 Earth Day activities. The movie Global Brain caught my attention, and a few days later I watched Peter Russell’s presentation of mankind's "leap in consciousness" toward a single, united global mind. The movie built a pseudo-scientific basis for this mystical hope by supposedly proving that evolution occurs when organisms join together to form larger, more complex units. Then it prophesied a final evolutionary rise into utopian harmony through the merging of human minds around the world.
The argument seemed to convince many in the audience. After all, global problems demand global solutions. Earthly wars, vanishing rainforests, spreading pollution, wasteful destruction of ocean mammals through heartless fishing practices, and careless waste disposal are just a few of the challenges that reach beyond national boundaries.
During the discussion afterward, nobody asked who would guide this collective global brain. Even if it were possible, what forces might such concentrated power unleash? Nor did anyone mention that this envisioned global consensus contradicts historical evidence, biblical truth, and human nature.
The Bible gives some alarming glimpses of a one-world government where the Antichrist reigns as god. In it, Satan will unleash unimaginable evils and wield absolute control over its citizens: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark... 666" (Revelation 13:16-18).
Connection and Community
"What humanity urgently needs today," said Peter Russell, "are the means to bring about a widespread shift in consciousness. This will come about, not through a revival of any particular religion, but through a revival of the techniques and experiences that once gave these teachings life and effectiveness."3
Revival of what techniques? Transcendental meditation, yoga, mantras, Tantric exercises?
Global education in public schools is the primary platform for this shift in consciousness. In The New Age Masquerade (a Christian book well worth reading), Eric Buehrer exposes the search for a "world-core curriculum" which supposedly will prepare students for a "peaceful and cooperative existence among the human species on this planet."4
Apparently, Dr. Gordon Cawelti, the executive director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, wants to base this world-core curriculum on a mystical book titled New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality by Dr. Robert Muller, former under secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Let’s see what Dr. Muller proposes:
"The scientists have now come to the end of their wisdom.... This is where spirituality or religion comes in. Science in my view is part of the spiritual process; it is the transcendence and elevation of the human race into an ever vaster (sic) knowledge and consciousness of the universe and of its unfathomable, divine character."5
Dr. Muller envisions a world of spiritual beings evolving through reincarnation and fulfilling the law of karma - doctrines he learned from Buddhist monk U Thant, former head of the United Nations. To reach this goal, children must develop morally and spiritually through "spiritual exercises of interiority, meditation, prayer, and communion with God, the universe, and eternity."6 (This may sound similar to Christianity, but it is the same occult monism that characterizes earth-based spirituality.)
"Based upon their own writings, these globalists are guilty of subversion and treason. They aggressively fly in the face of public trust and push forward to indoctrinate teachers and children in their elitist, utopian dogma. They do not want to teach children how to think; they want to indoctrinate young minds in what to think.7 Eric Buehrer in The New Age Masquerade
Muller's utopian vision matches two basic desires of people everywhere: connectedness and community. Supposedly, if people restore their ancient connections with the earth, the free flow of her mystical energies will produce a community of evolved spiritual beings who think alike and share all things. After all, if all peoples tuned their minds to a single universal brain, wouldn’t they find unity?
Only if this brain was the mind of Christ. Those who are joined to Him through the cross, know His Word, and follow His ways can enjoy genuine and unbroken oneness of mind and purpose. "We have the mind of Christ," wrote Paul. If we allow Him to be our wisdom and guide, He will build a community of caring people, "likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose" (I Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2.2).
Those who seek oneness through counterfeit gods, spirits or forces will eventually find the opposite: confusion instead of harmony, and hatred instead of love. The "mind" people follow will determine their destiny.
The Angel of Light.
There is a "global brain" that has spoken to people through the centuries. As always, it presents timeless deceptions fitted to the needs and desires of current listeners. Disguised as a serpent, a shining "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14), a white light, or a dynamic human prophet, it usually offers "new" or "higher" wisdom in place of truth, human empowerment in place of God’s grace, and self-realization or godhood in place of eternal life.
Since the beginning of history, this global brain has communicated through untold numbers of shamans, spiritists, gurus, and pagan priest/priestesses who, in turn, have communicated its earthy message to their followers. Where cultures demanded a more philosophical and impersonal divinity, it offered Hinduism, Buddhism, Unity, and innumerable Westernized variations of Eastern mysticism.
This global voice also speaks through people who claim loyalty to one God but who have chosen to follow a fallen angel (Revelation 12:9) rather than the Creator. It spoke to Muhammad back in the seventh century. [Compare this "angel" with Moroni, the angel that gave Joseph Smith the Book of Mormon. Apparently, both "angels" endorsed polygamy.]
The founder of Islam heard an "imperious" voice - he thought it came from the Angel Gabriel. Then "a luminous being grasped him by the throat and commanded him to repeat the sacred word."8
Muhammad must have obeyed, for the spirit-being began to communicate a series of "revelations" which gave birth to the Quran (Koran), Islam’s holy book. Along with distorted Old Testament teachings, the voice told Muhammad to rob traveling caravans, take multiple wives and concubines - his life became increasingly licentious, because "Allah willed it" - and slaughter Jews and Christians. Muhammad’s Allah became a source of sheer power that inspired hatred toward God’s people, commanded murder, and justified Muhammad’s lusts and immorality.9
Islam is considered a "missionary religion" meant to be taught to all people (Quran 34:28). But the Quran (9:5, 38:52) also tells Muslims to fight polytheists, Christians, and Jews - until they submit and pay tribute. Compare Islam’s authoritarian reign to that of the prophesied world ruler, called the Antichrist, who will persecute God’s people, and also, those who share in the Babylonian spirituality, unless they submit, bow to his image, and wear his mark (Revelation 13:7, 15-17; 17.15-18).
Today Muhammad’s bright angel holds captive one-sixth of the world’s population -- precious people whom God longs to free and bless. They have pledged obedience to Allah, a god of wrath and death who cares little for the destitute among his people. Just as Karma paralyzes social concern in India, so Islamic fatalism reigns in lands where "Allah willed it!" is the answer to human concerns about suffering and social injustice.
Folk Islam.
In many Muslim countries, the masses find Allah too distant and demanding to meet personal needs. Instead, they practice their own form of earth-based spirituality through Folk Islam. They have turned to a pantheon of "helpful" powers (spirits, fairies, dead saints, and ancestors) for protection against spells, omens, "the evil eye," and other ills caused by harmful spirits. In their mythical world, they worship trees, stones, and angels. They communicate with spirits through dreams, visions, and divinations. And, like pagan religions around the world, they appeal to occult forces using an assortment of amulets, charms, magic, astrology, sorcery, and witchcraft.
Do you see the parallel to the current transformation of the West? The age-old natural drift toward earth-based power has always inspired folk religion, whether in ancient Israel, medieval Europe or contemporary Middle East. Even when paganism seemed to disappear - as during the last three centuries in the West - a remnant lingered in superstitions, pagan myths, and fairy tales as if waiting for "an opportune time" (Luke 4:13).
"It is plain that the beliefs and practices of ordinary Muslims contradict many formal aspects of Islamic faith. They ... permeate the everyday life of human beings from Morocco to Malaysia." Bill Musk, The Unseen Face of Islam.12
The two faces of Islam illustrate the two sides of occultism which are spreading in the West and will, in more extreme forms, dominate the end times (Revelation 17.13):
The earth-based spirituality of Folk Islam which offers spiritual guidance and power to manipulate at will.
An "angel" called Moroni -- not unlike the "luminous being" that led Muhammed -- visited Mormon founder Joseph Smith in 1822. Already "a romancer and diviner,"13 Smith was no novice to occult communications. In 1822, this angel led him to a set of golden plates, which, as Smith tells it, he translated into English from "reformed Egyptian" with help from magic stones. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "most objective scholars" regard the final product -- the Book of Mormons -- "as a potpourri of local Indian origin legends, fragments of autobiography, and the current religious and political controversies."13
The point is that occult communications throughout time tend to be a blend of distorted truths and mythical repetitions designed to match current trends and appeal to human nature. Whether people worship one god or many, if they don’t know the God of the Bible, they are following Satan, the angel of light who is deceiving the world. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.) "Test the spirits," says God. "You will know them by their fruit."14
The chart, Five Types of Religious Expressions, shows that Satan designs a lie for everyone. People who are raised in Christian families - but without a solid scriptural foundation - can easily be led to the deceptions in column 2, which includes imitations and distortions of biblical beliefs.
Column 4 lists general forms of nature worship. Together with some variations of the force of column 5 (such as Buddhism, it shows the primary models for Deep Ecology.
Humanists are often drawn to the promise of column 5: an impersonal cosmic force available for manipulation. While it looks like monism, it also includes varying degrees of pantheism and polytheism. Contemporary pagan religions (such as witchcraft, neo-gnosticism which bears little resemblance to its old form, and Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy) could fit column 5 as well as 4.
Column 3 shows "the fruit" of counterfeit religions and the final bondage where people move beyond spiritual facades to total allegiance to the power of darkness. There Satan can freely exercise his hateful intent through human agents lusting after his power. Its most consistent expression is hatred for God’s people - both Jews and Christians.
As you read this chart, keep in mind that only the first column represents people who remain faithful to God. All the rest demonstrate the ingenuity of the deceiver and the bait he has designed for his victims. You may want to refer back to Chart 4 which shows how earth-based religions have responded to today's call for empowered oneness and are streaming back into the post-Christian West.
Blending the World's Religions.
Breathing incense and feeling the beat of Aztec drums, my husband, Andy, and I squeezed our way through a throng of worshipers in Mexico City. The plaza outside two cathedrals dedicated to the Virgin of Guadelupe throbbed with the incessant motion of native dancers with rattles on their ankles, and the coming and going of thousands of worshipers. While most dancers wore large feathered headdresses, some (supposedly priests or medicine men) wore animal masks representing pagan empowerment. Hundreds of banners - honoring suns and snakes as well as the familiar image of the Guadalupean Virgin with the crescent moon under her feet - proclaimed loyalty to the all-too-common marriage between paganism and distorted Christianity.
It was December 12 - Guadelupe Day - and Mexico was celebrating its most beloved national deity. The Virgin of Guadelupe, titled Queen of Heaven, like Babylon's goddess Ishtar and Canaan’s Asherah, had won the heart of the nation. She satisfied pagans and Catholics alike. Back in the sixteenth century, the Spanish adventurer Cortez had conquered the ancient Aztec nation and forced the proud Indians to bow to the Catholic mother of God, yet paganism continued. Mary fit right into the Aztec pantheon of gods and goddess and, in fact, became the favorite.
"Here the mother is more important than the son," explained our guide for the day. "It's different in the States."
Syncretism (blending or fusing conflicting beliefs) is not unique to the Mexican church. It has been a natural tendency since the beginning of time. You saw Israel’s short-lived faithfulness. Within a generation after the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, they had adopted Canaanite deities. After a few centuries of life in Rome, Christians began to adopt pagan practices from their neighbors. And today many Protestant congregations are trading biblical truth for a homogenized, all-inclusive interfaith religion.
But God has always preserved a remnant. When Elijah felt alone, God reminded him that He still had 7,000 other believers who refused to worship Baal. During the Middle Ages, God preserved His Scriptures in monasteries isolated from the surrounding spiritual compromise. And in America today, in the midst of spreading apostasy, Christians from all branches of the Church are deepening their commitment to know and follow Truth.
Evangelicals are not popular among the spiritual establishment in Mexico. As always, homogenized religion opposes biblical Christianity. In fact, a blend of pagan beliefs, occult celebrations, and Bible stories in order to establish a false unity (spiritual syncretism) profanes the true God, who implores us to worship according to His guidelines and shun pagan rites:
Isaiah 1:12-13; 52:11"When you come to meet with Me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies."
"Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD."
Welcome to the Global Village
It is not easy to resist the growing pressure to conform and assimilate. Global commerce, communication, environmental catastrophes, and the quest for a New World Order have indeed made us a global community.
National leaders who share the hope for a peaceful, environmentally sound New World Order have a single meeting ground: the United Nations. In October 1975, a gathering of religious leaders presented this statement:
"The crises of our time are challenging the world religions to release a new spiritual force transcending religious, cultural, and national boundaries into a new consciousness of the oneness of the human community and so putting into effect a spiritual dynamic toward the solutions of the world's problems.... We affirm a new spirituality... directed toward planetary consciousness."15
Many of today's leaders want Christians to compromise their beliefs in order to create social consensus and spiritual oneness in the world. To educators, entertainers, ecumenists, and environmentalists who would save the earth by homogenizing all religions, separatism is heresy. Their vision of global community demands a single unifying religion or a compatible blend of inclusive religions. Christianity doesn't fit -its exclusivity blocks the spiritual evolution toward global oneness.
"Nonconformists are considered aberrant or deviant,"16 says Eric Buehrer. You may have encountered that attitude if you have questioned meditation or occult influences in your child’s classroom. Buehrer illustrates his point with an alarming quote from Global Mandate by Philip Vander Velde. Notice the transition from religious freedom to the type of religious persecution which, outside our nation, has shadowed Jews and Christians through the centuries:
"Groups of the world's Population should, for a long time at least, be able to choose traditional ways... What alone is necessary to create a humane world, society is that all subcultures be ... compatible with the world society's view of itself and of nature, and compatible with the unity of humanity and the earth. To the extent that any cultural tendency denied this, it would be aberrant; to the extent that such a tendency was expressed in action, it would be subversive; and to the extent that such a tendency might become powerful, it would be fought." Emphasis added17
Signs Of growing persecution are darkening the Western World. To enforce consensus and create "a culturally inclusive environment," environmentalists and other visionaries are replacing our Judeo-Christian values with those that produce decadence and tyranny. Look at how the Western World promotes pagan values while it outlaws expressions of moral boundaries:
You have probably noticed the growing public hostility toward those who object to classroom curricula that use occult themes, occult formulas or emphasize violence such as appear in some of the Impressions reading series. Caring parents who express their concern are labeled closed-minded, anti-intellectual, myopic, fundamentalist, censors. Emotion rather than reason set the tone. Educators determined to pursue their chosen path to "social reform" often block communication, and exclude, insult, or reject Christian parents.
The war against God in this country, specifically against Jesus Christ, is getting uglier, much uglier, much more explicit. And make no mistake about it, please. This war is against Christ.21 (John Lofton, syndicated Washington columnist)
WHAT CAN FAMILIES DO?
1. How to build God’s kind of global community.
2. How to face persecution.
3. The God who reigns.
1. BUILDING GOD'S GLOBAL COMMUNITY.
God created us for fellowship with Himself, and He longs to pour out His love and blessings on a world that will receive Him. "Go into all the world and make disciples,"22 He commissions His people. Most of us don’t have to go far. The world's people have become our neighbors. Like the rest of us, they face loneliness, pain, and disappointments. We can invite them into our homes, learn to understand, but not adopt, their ways, discover our similarities, and show them God’s love.The environmental crisis has opened new doors. As we work side by side to clean our neighborhood, we can teach respect for God’s creation - and be ready to point people to the Creator. He will provide opportunities - if we make ourselves available to Him.
We will face opposition and competition. God's Word shows us that at "the end of the age," apostasy and the Gospel will spread side by side throughout the world. It is happening. People everywhere are searching for spiritual reality. Buddhist study centers are multiplying in Western nations, while about twenty-four million Japanese (twenty percent of Japan’s population) have flocked to "new" religions.23 Even as Bibles pour into Russia and teachers learn to share biblical truth with their students, "the Soviets are rediscovering a host of fantastic philosophers, free-thinking mystics, and offbeat occultists."24 The spiritually starved masses are grabbing anything that offers answers: New Age mysticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism - along with enticing blends of everything. While militant Hindus are determined to purge India of all other religions - especially Christianity, ex-guru Rabi Maharaj travels around the world as an ambassador for Jesus. He described a 1990 visit to Eastern Europe in his newsletter:
"The cults and sects, both Eastern and Western are having a heyday. Moonies are establishing schools teaching English in order to win followers. The New Age is growing rapidly. I saw Hare Krishna disciples in every city I visited.... And Czechoslovakian President Havel meditated publicly with the Dalai Lama of Tibet, openly endorsing Eastern religions.... In fact, the official former Communist headquarters in Bratislava has been turned over to New Agers."25
This is no time to sit on the sidelines or to be afraid. As soldiers of the King, we fight on the winning side. Jesus told His disciples, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4). This work is to allow Him to live His life through us, so that His transforming love can touch the hurting multitudes and draw them into His gentle embrace. Remember, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
2. PREPARING FOR PERSECUTION. The above truth invites hatred. Only by wearing the armor and wielding its "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God," can we resist the world’s arguments against us. Because of our beliefs, we are accused of being ...
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18 |
Could we really be persecuted for our faith in the United States? After all, the Bill of Rights guarantees our religious liberty. Centuries of freedom to worship God and express His truth have taught us to take these rights for granted.
We forget that committed Jews and Christians around the world have almost always been despised and oppressed, often by an established church that had compromised its faith and then refused to be confronted by truth. America was settled and founded by Christian immigrants who fled religious persecution. In the turbulent history of the world, America's period of religious freedom has been like a restful oasis - a contradiction to the norm.
I used to wonder at Jesus' words in John 15:18-21. They didn’t seem relevant to the American Christian. Now I read them with new understanding:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: "No servant is greater than his master." If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also ... for they do not know the One who sent Me."
Those who reject Jesus will shun us, for faithful believers carry the presence of the Holy Spirit who brings conviction of sin as well as God’s love. Any mention of sin grates against today's relativistic values and the kind of "freedom" where anything goes. That‘s why we, who are "the aroma of Christ" to believers, are also "the smell of death to those who are perishing." They hate the true Jesus. "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph" (2 Corinthians 2:14-15, NASB).
We are "more than conquerors" because Jesus is in and with us. He wants us to know Him as our caring Shepherd who goes before us, our strong Refuge where we can hide, our unfailing Hope - who, unlike the world's pie-in-the-sky-hope will accomplish all He has promised.
Our King calls us to share His suffering, misunderstanding, rejection, and loneliness - to be counted as fools for His sake. Are we ready? We must stay close together, rejoicing in the overcoming power of the One true God who is far greater than His enemy. By Jesus' strength in us, we are able to stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose [us]" (Philippians 1.27-28).
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven." Luke 6:22-23 |
3. TRUSTING THE GOD WHO REIGNS. Memorize biblical promises of victory: Exodus 14:13-14, 23:20-22; Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:9; 2 Chronicles 20:15, 17, 22; 1 Corinthians 15:57; Romans 8:37. Remember, these Scripture swords are the offensive part of your armor. Affirm them whenever you face spiritual battles, and you will experience the triumph of the God who reigns.
Nothing is more exciting than watching God win His battles - especially when He lets us participate. During the fall of 1990 I shared in one such victory. Read this story about the Dalai Lama in Heaven is Forever.
1. The Dalai Lama, My Tibet (Berkeley University of California Press, 1990), 81.
2. Bill Devall and George Session, Deep Ecology (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1985), 206.
3. Peter Russell, The Global Brain (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, Inc., 1983), page 164.
4. Susan Hooper, “Educator Proposes a Global ‘Core Curriculum,” Education Week (27 November 1985); page 8. Cited by Eric Buehrer, The New Age Masquerade (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1990), page 74.
5. Robert Muller, New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1848), page 145.
7. Eric Buehrer, The New Age Masquerade (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1990), page 117.
8. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 15 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1968), page 640.
9. Dr. Anis A. Shorrosh,, Islam Revealed (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988). Also told by Ron Carlson in lecture titled Islam. Audio cassette from Christian Ministries International (7601 Superior Terrace, Eden Prairie MN).
12. Bill Musk, The Unseen Face of Islam (Eastbourne, Great Britain: MARC, 1989), page 223.
13. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 20 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1968), page 695.
14. I John 4:1; Matthew 7:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
15. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, Inc., 1983), page 369
16. Buehrer, page 114.
17. Philip Vander Velde and Hyung-Chan Kim, eds., Global Mandate: Pedagogy for Peace (Bellingham, WA: Bellwether Press, 1985), 10. cited by Buehrer, page 114.
18. “Government Tells Churches What to Teach," AFA Journal (October 1989): page xx.
19. “Hate Literature Laws Sweep the U.S. and Other Western Democracies," The Christian World Report (April, 1989): page 1.
20. Gary L. Bauer, “Colleges: Watch Out for the Sensitivity Police," Washington Watch (December 1990): page 4.
21. "Is the U.S. on the Verge of Criminalizing Christianity?" The Christian World Report (November 1989): page 1.
22. Matthew 28:19.
23. Lewis M. Simons, "Me-First Cults Thrive in Japan," San Jose Mercury News, April 16, 1990.
24. Don Lattin, “Esalen Institute's Ties with Soviet Philosophy Project," San Francisco Chronicle, 6 November 1990.
25. Rabi R. Maharaj, East-West Gospel Ministries Newsletter, December 1, 1990
Home | Armor of God | Persecution | Articles | Books