Reinventing Jesus, Chapter 7: The New Gospel for Peac
Reinventing Jesus Christ - The New Gospel
Chapter 7 - Update
The New Gospel Campaign for Peace
By Warren Smith
http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com
Posted September 4, 2006
See also Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel - Chapter 5 and Neale Donald Walsch
From the Ashes
In the fall of 2001, a book entitled From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America was published by the multi-faith e-community Beliefnet. The book contained articles by a variety of “spiritual leaders” and “extraordinary citizens” written in response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Proceeds from the book were to go to surviving families. A number of Christian leaders were included in this book as well as many familiar New Age leaders. Articles by Billy Graham, Charles Colson, Bill Hybels, Max Lucado, Bruce Wilkinson, Rick Warren and others were interspersed with articles written by popular New Age figures like the Dalai Lama, Starhawk the witch and Neale Donald Walsch. Not only did Christian leaders find themselves in the company of top New Age leaders in this book, they were also now being challenged by some of these same New Age leaders. For example, Neale Donald Walsch’s article appeared near the beginning of the book and challenged Christian ministers and religious leaders everywhere, in the light of September 11th, to adopt the New Gospel teaching that “we are all one.” This was based on the unbiblical New Age belief that God is in everyone and everything. Walsch wrote:
We must change ourselves. We must change the beliefs upon which our behaviors are based. We must create a different reality, build a new society…. We must do so with new spiritual truths. We must preach a new gospel, its healing message summarized in two sentences:
We are all one.
Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.
This 15-word message, delivered from every lectern and pulpit, from every rostrum and platform, could change everything overnight. I challenge every priest, every minister, every rabbi, and religious cleric to preach this.1
Walsch obviously knew how spiritually appealing the idea of peace and oneness would sound to a frightened humanity wondering when the next disaster might strike. What an opportune time to introduce the New Age doctrine of spiritual oneness to an anxious and vulnerable world. But the Bible clearly teaches that while all nations are of one blood (Acts 17:26), they are not all of one spirit (Romans 8:9-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12). The Bible states that we are only “one” with God and with each other in Jesus Christ.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28) [bold added]
The Bible also teaches that our only real peace with God and with each other comes through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour:
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…. (Romans 5:1)
The Bible does not teach us to approach God by praying to or through anyone other than Jesus Christ.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
No More Jesus Christ as Saviour?
In the fall of 2002, just one year after September 11th, Neale Donald Walsch released a new book entitled The New Revelations: A Conversation with God. In this book he described how “God” was making it known that world peace could be achieved if all humanity was willing to incorporate certain “new revelation” teachings into their already existing belief systems. Walsch’s “God” stated that if people were open enough, and humble enough to admit that they didn’t have a complete understanding of God—that they needed more information—“new revelations” would then be given to them. Walsch’s “God” made it clear that these “new revelations” would not do away with one’s own particular religion or belief system, but the revelations would be simply “adding to” and “enlarging” the scope of their present beliefs.2 These revelations would provide a common core of belief to all peoples and religions, helping everyone to understand how the universal acceptance of certain spiritual principles could save the world. “God” had provided Walsch with these “new revelations” and Walsch would now share these revelations with others in his new book.
In New Revelations: A Conversation with God, Neale Donald Walsch explained that “God” was giving the world a last-chance warning. To avoid self-destruction and attain world peace everyone must recognize the divinity of all creation. With this foundational teaching that God was in everything, Walsch then described how “God” was now proposing a “PEACE PLAN.” This PEACE PLAN process would help to unify the world’s various religions and bring peace to the world. Walsch’s “God” described his PEACE PLAN as “The Five Steps to PEACE.” But to avoid conflict and spiritual divisiveness, “God” had one mandatory condition: the PEACE PLAN would make no allowances for anyone calling Jesus Christ their exclusive Lord and Saviour. In The New Revelations Walsch’s “God” emphatically stated:
Yet let me make something clear. The era of the Single Savior is over.3
The 5-Step PEACE PLAN
The PEACE PLAN delineated by Walsch’s New Age “God” is a sequential 5-step prayer-like process that encourages people to examine their existing beliefs about God, and to be open enough to accept “new understandings” from God. The PEACE PLAN was obviously patterned after the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program. Walsch explained the New Age PEACE PLAN of his “God” in The New Revelations and also posted it on his Conversations with God website:
THE FIVE STEPS TO PEACE
Peace will be attained when we, as human beings…
PERMIT ourselves to acknowledge that some of our old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.
EXPLORE the possibility that there is something we do not understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which could change everything.
ANNOUNCE that we are willing for new understandings of God and Life to now be brought forth, understandings that could produce a new way of life on this planet.
COURAGEOUSLY examine these new understandings and, if they align with our personal inner truth and knowing, to enlarge our belief system to include them.
EXPRESS our lives as a demonstration of our highest beliefs, rather than as a denial of them.4
The clever subtlety of this PEACE PLAN is reminiscent of the serpent’s approach to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The PEACE PLAN is a slick contemporary version of the original spiritual temptation to believe man is God. It tempts people—especially people with a Christian background—to doubt their sole faith in Jesus Christ and to open themselves up to other beliefs. The Apostle Paul expressed his concern that believers might actually listen to the cunning false teachings of men like Walsch:
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
Walsch’s PEACE PLAN encourages everyone—particularly Christians—to doubt their beliefs. It asks them to consider the possibility that God is providing new beliefs through “new revelations.” These “new revelations” would include the New Age/New Gospel teaching that “we are all one” based on the panentheistic New Age/New Spitituality teaching that God is in everything. And this is exactly what Marianne Williamson, Gary Zukav, Wayne Dyer and other New Age leaders were suggesting in their televised comments after September 11th. Because “bad” things were happening, were Christians suddenly supposed to doubt the teachings of the Bible and open themselves up to the New Age teachings of the New Spirituality? It was all very clever and very predictable. Our spiritual Adversary loves to create a problem so he can then offer his own solution to that problem. His solution in this instance was the ingeniously contrived 5-step spiritual PEACE PLAN.
Using Walsch as his New Age spokesmen, the Adversary was tempting everyone to humbly open themselves up to a new way of thinking that could change the world. But there is a major problem with this suggestion. The proposed PEACE PLAN is predicated on a fundamental disbelief in the authority and reliability of the Holy Bible. And the Bible clearly teaches that doubting God’s Word, and doubting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of the world, is not a sign of humility—it is a sign of faithlessness. Furthermore, the proposal by Walsch’s “God” that we measure “new revelations” by our own “personal inner truth” is extremely misleading. We are not to measure any teaching by our own feelings or personal experience. We are to measure everything by the Word of God as contained in His Holy Bible. Walsch’s PEACE PLAN clearly fits the biblical description of a faithless and ungodly “wavering” prayer-like process. The Scripture warns that a person thinking, praying and proceeding in this manner should expect to receive nothing from God.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8)
This warning would also apply also to the nearly identical “humility theology” of business leader and New Age sympathizer John Templeton.
Templeton’s Humility Theology
Sir John Marks Templeton is widely known for his Templeton Prize for Progress in Religions. He has been described as a “religious philanthropist,” “investment wizard,” and an “amateur philosopher.”5
A do-gooder for the end of the millennium, Templeton pays professors to promote conservative values, universities to build character, and researchers to investigate the connections between faith and science. He believes he can reconcile the irreconcilable contradictions of contemporary society: Christian conservatism and New Age loopiness, capitalist greed and sweet charity, old-time religion and modern technology.6
He has also developed his own brand of religion which he calls “humility theology,” which he describes as the ability to humbly live with “conflicting scientific theories” and “conflicting religious attitudes.”7 Neale Donald Walsch, in a May 2004 interview with the New Age magazine Science of Mind, noted that Templeton’s “humility theology” was in almost complete accord with the New Age PEACE PLAN. Walsch praised Templeton, calling him his “wonderful role model.”
The ethical and moral dilemmas with which we will be confronted in the twenty-first century cannot be successfully negotiated using old ideas. So we have to have the courage to experience what my wonderful role model, Sir John Templeton, would say: What the world needs now is a bit of humility with its theology, that is, a theology that understands we don’t have all the answers but is willing to remain inside the questions, “Who am I? Who is God? What is our newest, our grandest, and our most extraordinary understanding?” Let us not stay in the answer we gave ourselves hundreds, even thousands, of years ago.8
Using Templeton as his springboard, Walsch told the Science of Mind interviewer that what the world needs now is a “new” and “refreshed” understanding of God:
Let us hold on to the parts of that answer that still continue to resonate and make sense to the human soul but let us release those parts of the answer that do not—and there are many parts that do not. We’re going to create a new God at last. Of course, it won’t really be a new God but simply an enlarged and breathtakingly refreshed understanding of the God who always was and who is now and always will be.9
It is therefore interesting that Walsch and “God” had a conversation specifically about how Templeton’s “humility theology” works hand in hand with the New Age PEACE PLAN. In fact, Walsch’s “God” commended Templeton for being “very wise”:
“God”: What would you tell your local religious leaders if you could get them to sit down together with you?
Walsch: I would tell them about a conversation that I had not long ago with Sir John Templeton—he’s the man who created the Templeton Prize in Religion—in which I asked him what he felt the world needed most right now. Sir John said, “humility theology… It’s a theology that acknowledges it does not have all the answers. We need a theology that is willing to continue asking questions.”
“God”: Sir John is very wise.10
In another one of his “Conversations with God” books, Walsch and his “God” talked more about Templeton and his “humility theology”:
“God”: In the days of the New Spirituality your presently established religions will stop imagining themselves to have all the answers.
They will acknowledge openly that there may be something they don’t understand about God—the understanding of which could change everything. [bold in original]
Walsch: Sir John Templeton calls this “humility theology.”
“God”: It is aptly described. This is what would benefit earthly theologies greatly right now—and it is an attitude that most of your exclusivist organized religions will finally adopt as the earth’s people embrace Tomorrow’s God.
This will come about slowly at first, then as a fresh breeze sweeping across the land. More international conferences and congresses will be held, such as those which have already been held in recent years, inviting representatives of all the world’s religions to come together in one place to explore the path of mutual respect and cooperation.11
The following quotes from Templeton’s book The Humble Approach illustrate the similarities between Templeton’s “humility theology” and the PEACE PLAN of Walsch’s New Age “God”:
Humility is the gateway of knowledge. To learn more, we must first realize how little we already know.12
Differing concepts of God have developed in different cultures. No one should say that God can be reached by only one path. Such exclusiveness lacks humility because it presumes that we can and do comprehend God. The humble person is ready to admit and welcome the various manifestations of God.13
One following the humble approach thinks it possible that God may want to reveal Himself further than He has done to date in any major or minor religion. He may be ever ready to give us new revelation if we will but open our minds to seek and inquire, but first we must rid ourselves of that rigidity and intellectual arrogance that tells us we have all the answers already.14
To say that God cannot reveal Himself again in a decisive way because He did it once years ago seems sacrilegious. We should be gentle, kind, and sympathetic toward God’s new prophets even though they bring strange new ideas.15
Scriptures have been very beneficial to the whole world, but I am hoping we can develop a body of knowledge about God that doesn’t rely on ancient revelations or scripture.16
The possibility of a great new reformation depends upon scientists humble enough to admit that the unseen is vastly greater than the seen, and upon theologians humble enough to admit that some older concepts of God may need to grow. By using the humble approach, both can develop a vastly larger cosmology and a wider, deeper theology.17
Christian author Dave Hunt took note of the fact that John Marks Templeton and his New Age heresies had been introduced into the evangelical church by Crystal Cathedral pastor, Robert Schuller:
Templeton and his neopagan views were first introduced to the church in 1986 by Robert Schuller, who continues to endorse him. Schuller’s Possibilities magazine put Templeton’s picture on its front cover, and its major article was an interview with Templeton. In it he expressed his Unity/Religious Science/New Age beliefs: “Your spiritual principles attract prosperity to you… material success… comes… from being in tune with the infinite…. The Christ spirit dwells in every human being whether the person knows it or not… nothing exists except God.” These heresies were promoted by Schuller to his vast audience of readers.18
The Templeton article in Robert Schuller’s magazine betrays the same New Age sympathies that were later manifested in Schuller’s involvement with Gerald Jampolsky and A Course in Miracles. Walsch and his “God” must have been pleased with Schuller’s obvious affection for both Templeton and Jampolsky. By promoting these men, Schuller was in effect supporting and promoting their New Age cause within the evangelical church. What was a bit surprising, though, was their willingness to express these feelings so openly and publicly in Walsch’s book The New Revelations.
Schuller as a Bridge
In The New Revelations Walsch and his “God” have a conversation in which they both describe Robert Schuller as the kind of “extraordinary minister” who was providing a bridge from the “Christian” church into the New Age/New Spirituality. Walsch and his “God” were obviously pleased that Schuller—like Templeton—was proposing a “new reformation” for the church that would be based on the principles of “self-esteem.” Walsch began by praising Schuller, quoting from his 1982 book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation:
This extraordinary minister also declared, “As a Christian, a theologian, and a churchman within the Reformed tradition, I must believe that it is possible for the church to exist even though it may be in serious error in substance, strategy, style or spirit.” But, he said, ultimately “theologians must have their international, universal, transcreedal, transcultural, transracial standard.”19
Walsch’s “God” then replied:
Rev. Schuller was profoundly astute in his observations and incredibly courageous in making them public. I hope he is proud of himself!
I suggest that such an international, universal, transcreedal, transcultural, transracial standard for theology is the statement: “We Are All One. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”
This can be the gospel of a New Spirituality. It can be a kind of spirituality that gives people back to themselves.20 [emphasis in original]
Neale Donald Walsch and his New Age “God” had declared that “the era of the Single Saviour is over,” yet in this conversation they cited the “Christian” minister Robert Schuller. Obviously his ideas are compatible with their own. They favorably compared Schuller’s “New theology” of “self-esteem” and a “new reformation”21 to their own call for a “New Spirituality.”
It is interesting that on October 17, 2004, just two years after this conversation where Walsch and his “God” praised Schuller, New Age leader Gerald Jampolsky was Schuller’s featured guest on his Hour of Power television program. And it was on this program that Schuller recommended all of Jampolsky’s “fabulous” New Age books. He had especially recommended Jampolsky’s most recent book Forgiveness. Not surprisingly, the Foreward to Forgiveness was written by Neale Donald Walsch.
While Schuller was featuring Jampolsky and his Course in Miracles-based teachings on the Hour of Power, Walsch and Williamson were in the process of reinventing their Global Renaissance Alliance of New Age leaders. Their Global Renaissance Alliance would soon be renamed the Peace Alliance. They were about to make their New Age cause for a New Spirituality become the spiritual and political foundation for a world peace movement.
The New Age Peace Alliance
The Global Renaissance Alliance—originally co-founded as the American Renaissance Alliance in 1997—was renamed the Peace Alliance in 2005. By transforming the more hard-core New Age Global Renaissance Alliance into the more spiritually and politically pleasing Peace Alliance, co-founders Marianne Williamson and Neale Donald Walsch had removed most of the spiritual trappings that made the Global Renaissance Alliance such an easily identifiable New Age organization. Gone from the new Peace Alliance website was any mention of the organization’s more controversial co-founder Neale Donald Walsch. Also gone were most of the board members who were obvious New Age leaders—people like Barbara Marx Hubbard, Gary Zukav and Deepak Chopra. And gone from the new website was the original recommended reading list that had included Williamson’s book about A Course in Miracles (A Return to Love), Walsch’s books that downplayed the serious crimes of Hitler (Conversations with God: Books 1&2), and Hubbard’s book that mandated the “selection process” (The Revelation).
In fact, most people looking at the reinvented Peace Alliance website would never know that this “peace” organization had been originally founded by New Age leaders for specific New Age spiritual/political purposes. Like Walsch and his Humanity’s Team, the Peace Alliance was yet another way for these New Age leaders to tempt the world—and the church—with their repackaged New Age teachings. The Peace Alliance is, for all intents and purposes, still the New Age Global Renaissance Alliance. But now these “spiritual activists” have become more radical as they boldly proclaim their spiritually- based peace movement to be a “civil rights movement for the soul”—a phrase coined by Neale Donald Walsch’s “God” to describe his New Spirituality. In Walsch’s book Tommorrow’s God, Walsch and “God” discuss the ominous implications of this clever catchphrase:
“God”: I have said repeatedly that the New Spirituality is a civil rights movement for the soul. It is a message of freedom from humanity’s belief in an oppressive, angry, violent, and killing God. When this message is received by the people, it will not matter how powerful a dictator’s government is, or how repressive a religion is. When the number of people who no longer support oppression and repression reaches critical mass, that government will fall, and that religion will disappear.
Walsch: There is another profound political development that I see emerging from the New Spirituality.
“God”: What is that?
Walsch: I see the present form of democracy disappearing.
“God”: Yes? And why? Why do you see this happening? Is this what you choose to create?
Walsch: I think so, yes.
“God”: Why?
Walsch: Because another of the foundational truths of the New Spirituality is Oneness, and those who embrace this New Spirituality—
“God”: —the number of which will increase exponentially each year—
Walsch: —will see themselves as separate from no one and nothing. I believe that this sense of unity will not be merely theoretical or conceptual, but experiential.
“God”: I agree with you. The New Spirituality will produce this shift. People will not merely know themselves to be one with everything, they will feel this unity.
In the days of the New Spirituality the unity of all things will be experiential.
Walsch: This will dramatically change people’s attitude about many things.
“God”: It will, indeed.22 [emphasis in original]
Meditation and Spiritual Experience
In the New Age, mystical spiritual experiences often reinforce one’s newly “evolving” spiritual beliefs, and give seekers the feeling that they are on the right path. There is no doubt that this New Age peace movement will feel “good” and seem “right” to those who depend upon spiritual experience rather than the truth of God’s Word.
For Williamson and her New Age “spiritual activists,” meditation will be one of the most important means for providing ongoing spiritual experiences. Williamson has repeatedly underlined the importance of meditation in her writings and teachings. In A Return to Love she wrote:
Meditation is time spent with God in silence and quiet listening. It is the time during which the Holy Spirit has a chance to enter into our minds and perform His divine alchemy.23
Her definition of meditation is almost exactly how most Christian leaders are defining contemplative prayer—a “time spent with God in silence and quiet listening.” However, the “Holy Spirit” that she refers to is not the Holy Spirit of God but rather the unholy spirit of her New Age “God” and “Christ.” That is why it is so important that believers “test the spirits” by the Word of God in all spiritual experiences. Otherwise one might be “quietly listening” in “silence” and “solitude” to the same counterfeit “Holy Spirit” that the New Age is listening to. The Bible warns that there is “another gospel” and “another spirit” and undiscerning believers may get very deceived (2 Corinthians 11:4).
One reason the New Age/New Spirituality places such great emphasis on meditation and contemplative prayer is because it provides a means for the spirit world to interact with the person who is sitting in “solitude” and “silence” so trusting and expectant. These seemingly “meant-to-be” spiritual experiences have led countless numbers of people into the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality. It is not surprising that the New Age/New Spirituality puts such emphasis on meditation and spiritual experience. Meditation and what is being called “contemplative prayer” will surely play a key part in making people feel like they are being “led” by God to get involved in a peace movement that is, in reality, based on the teachings of the New Spirituality.
Marianne Williamson on the Move
With co-founder Neale Donald Walsch’s role in the Peace Alliance being downplayed, Marianne Williamson now stands alone as the Chairman of the board of directors of the Peace Alliance. Adding to her already burgeoning resume, Williamson is now being touted as one of the featured contributors on Oprah Winfrey’s new XM satellite radio program.24 If conditions in the world continue to worsen it would not be surprising to see Oprah Winfrey getting very involved with Williamson’s Peace Alliance and the whole New Age peace movement. Williamson, Walsch, and their New Age colleagues are very aware that Oprah could play a strategic role in gaining popular support for their New Age Peace Plan—their “civil rights movement of the soul.” Williamson acknowledged how Oprah popularized her book about A Course in Miracles which made her a national figure. She wrote:
For that, my deepest thanks to Oprah Winfrey. Her enthusiasm and generosity have given the book, and me, an audience we would never otherwise have had.25
In her 2004 book The Gift of Change, Williamson wrote:
To Oprah Winfrey, for creating my national audience to begin with and for continuing to support my work. She has made a world of difference in my life, as she has in the lives of millions of others. In my heart I thank her constantly.26
In a relatively few short years, Marianne Williamson has become a high profile spiritual leader and activist, heading a highly charged “civil rights movement for the soul.” Sounding more like Martin Luther King than Shirley MacLaine, Williamson is fast becoming a formidable political figure. Joining her New Age/New Spirituality forces are politicians like Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Williamson and her Peace Alliance associates are suddenly in the thick of Washington politics. But the spiritual politics of their “peace” is completely founded on New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality teachings like those of A Course in Miracles. In fact, in The Gift of Change, Williamson declares that the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles could change the world:
Twenty years ago, I saw the guidance of the Course as key to changing one’s personal life; today, I see its guidance as key to changing the world. More than anything else, I see how deeply the two are connected.27
Dennis Kucinich and the Peace Department
When talking about spiritual politics, Marianne Williamson and Neale Donald Walsch are very careful to invoke the names of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi rather than credit the New Age occultists who are actually driving their movement. These politically savvy New Age leaders want an unsuspecting public to believe that their “civil rights movement for the soul” is founded on the non-resistent peace and justice principles of King and Gandhi rather than the occult New Age principles of Blavatsky, Bailey and Hubbard.
Williamson and Walsch have been very serious about engaging Washington politicians in their New Age politics and their New Age plans for peace. When the Global Renaissance Alliance moved more visibly into the political arena, it became very active in supporting Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich as the Democratic nominee for President in the 2004 election. In fact, Williamson and Walsch made joint political appearances with Kucinich. He, in turn, was a speaker at some of their Global Renaissance Alliance events. In his writings and speeches Kucinich proved to be a surprisingly strong advocate for the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality. For example, in his June 9, 2002 “Spirit and Stardust” speech at a conference entitled “Peacebuilding in the 21st Century” held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kucinich sounded more like a New Age leader than a U.S. Congressman when he stated:
We need to remember where we came from; to know that we are one. To understand that we are of an undivided whole: race, color, nationality, creed, gender are beams of light, refracted through one great prism. We begin as perfect and journey through life to become more perfect in the singularity of “I” and the multiplicity of “we”….
…Our vision of interconnectedness resonates with new networks of world citizens in nongovernmental organizations linking from numberless centers of energy, expressing the emergence of a new organic whole, seeking unity within and across national lines….
As citizen-activists the world over merge, they can become an irresistible force to create peace and protect the planet….
Active citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome and a conscious application of spiritual principles.28
His statements about “oneness,” “citizens-activists,” and “envisioning desired outcomes” through “a conscious application of spiritual principles” are a perfect example of how the New Age is influencing national politics and the emerging world peace movement. Kucinich has maintained strong spiritual/political ties with Marianne Williamson, Neale Donald Walsch, Barbara Marx Hubbard and other New Age leaders. He actually participated in fund raising activities for the Global Renaissance Alliance29—now the Peace Alliance—and has become one of America’s foremost peace activists.
The New Age Peace Department
On April 8, 2003 Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced a bill (H.R. 1673) in the U.S. House of Representatives that, if passed, would have established a cabinet level Department of Peace. This Peace Department would oversee a wide range of domestic and international activity. Kucinich also wants to establish a Peace Room in the White House—an idea that was first conceived by Barbara Marx Hubbard more than twenty years ago.30
In fact, Barbara Marx Hubbard made reference to Representative Kucinich and the idea of a Peace Room when she accepted a “Peace Builders Award” at a special September 11, 2005, Washington, D.C., Peace Alliance Conference that also featured speakers Marianne Williamson, Walter Cronkite, and Dennis Kucinich. In accepting her award, Hubbard described how Representative Kucinich had received the same dream she had been given so many years ago by her “Christ.”
When Dennis Kucinich was running for president, I told him of a dream I had. “Dennis,” I said, “I dreamed that we were inaugurating The Peace Room in the Rose Garden of the White House.”
“Barbara,” he responded, “When I am president, we won’t just inaugurate it in the Rose Garden, we will build it next to the oval office in the White House.”
And he laid out the identical vision without ever having seen it before.31
The legislation to establish a Department of Peace was reintroduced by Congressman Kucinich at the Capitol on September 12, 2005 (H.R. 3760). It was a fitting finale to the three-day Peace Alliance Conference. To date the legislation has over 40 congressmen supporting the enactment of a Peace Department that would, subtly and not so subtly, regulate numerous aspects of American life by New Age principles.32 For example, according to the mission statement in Title 1, Section 101(C)4 of the bill, the Secretary of Peace would have wide, sweeping powers to “promote the development of human potential.” This is interesting because Neale Donald Walsch has already explained that the term “human potential” can be just another way of saying New Age/New Spirituality. At his 2003 Humanity’s Team Leadership Conference, Walsch described how New Age colleagues like Wayne Dyer and Gary Zukav use the facade of the “human potential movement” to introduce and promote their New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality teachings.
New Age Definition of Hate
Section 102(b)10 of the bill describes how the Secretary of Peace would also “provide for public education programs and counseling strategies concerning hate crimes.” But the question necessarily arises—who defines what constitutes a hate crime? If New Age politicians like Dennis Kucinich, and New Age lobbyists like Marianne Williamson, have their way then “hate” could be easily defined in New Age terms. For example, it is clear that in the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality scheme of things “separation” means not seeing yourself and others as God. As an example, Maitreya has warned that “hatred is begotten of separation” and that in his New World Order it will be a hate “crime” not to believe in “man’s divinity.” He says it is his “purpose” to see that everyone who refuses to believe in “man’s divinity” be “driven” from this world. He affirms that his “law” concerning hatred will prevail.
The crime of separation must be driven from this world.
I affirm that as My Purpose.33
Let us together show the world:
that the need for war is past;
that the instinct of man is to live and to love;
that hatred is begotten of separation….34
The crime of separation, of division, of lawlessness must go from the world.
All that hinders the manifestation of man’s divinity must be driven from our planet.
My Law will take the place of separation.35
Thus it is possible thatthe New Age Doctrines of “Oneness” and “Separation” could play a huge part in a future Peace Department’s definition of hatred, tolerance and human potential. In fact, to avoid future wars—and a possible Armageddon—New Age leaders and politicians like Williamson, Walsch, Hubbard and Kucinich have made it clear that everyone would eventually have to embrace their New Age/New Spirituality doctrines. Of course if these doctrines were law then the acceptance of these doctrines would not be optional. Hatred would simply be defined as not seeing “God” in everyone and everything.
Endnotes
1. Beliefnet Editors, From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America (USA: Rodale Inc., 2001), p. 21.
2. Neale Donald Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York: Atria Books, 2002), p. 9.
3. Ibid., p. 157.
4. “The Five Steps To Peace,” Conversations with God website, http://www.cwg.org/5steps/5stepstopeace.pdf, p. 1.
5. David Plotz, “God's Venture Capitalist: The strange quest of Sir John Templeton,” Slate, June 8, 1997, http://www.slate.com/id/1822/.
6. Ibid.
7. Sir John Templeton, The Humble Approach: Scientists Discover God (Radnor, Pennsylvania: Templeton Foundation Press, 1995), p. 42.
8. Kathy Juline, “Question Authority: A Conversation with Neale Donald Walsch,” Science of Mind, May 2004, p. 29.
9. Ibid.
10. Walsch, The New Revelations, pp. 68-69.
11. Neale Donald Walsch, TOMORROW’S GOD: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2004), p. 234.
12. Templeton, The Humble Approach, p. 11.
13. Ibid., p. 46.
14. Ibid., p. 40.
15. Ibid., p. 53.
16. Ibid., p. 137.
17. Ibid., p. 70.
18. Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion: The Subtle Seduction of the World and the Church (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1998), p.102. Possibilities, Summer 1986, pp. 8-12.
19. Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God, p. 282.
20. Ibid.
21. Robert Schuller, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, pp. 38-39.
22. Neale Donald Walsch, TOMORROW’S GOD: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2004), pp. 262-263.
23. Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, p. 281.
24. Oprah & Friends-An XM Exclusive: http://www2.oprah.com/presents/2006/xm/xm_main.jhtml
25. Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, p. ix.
26. Marianne Williamson, The Gift of CHANGE: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), pp. ix-x.
27. Ibid, p. 5.
28. Praxis Peace Institute Dubrovnik Conference, Dubrovnik Croatia: The Alchemy of Peacebuilding, June 4-11, 2002. Speech by U.S. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, June 9, 2002 http://www.praxispeace.org/kucinich_letter.html.
29. Williamson, ed., Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century, p. 361 p. 413.
30. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Hunger of Eve: One Woman’s Odyssey Toward the Future, pp. 186, 197.
31. Peace Alliance Conference, September 10-12, 2005, Washington, D.C., Peace Builders Award: Acceptance speech by Barbara Marx Hubbard, September 11, 2005. http://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=7732. http://www.dopcampaign.org/read_bill.htm
33. Share International Foundation, Messages from Maitreya the Christ: One Hundred Forty Messages, p. 189.
34. Ibid., p. 108.
35. Ibid., p. 248.
© 2006 by Warren Smith - Reprinted with permission. Emphases added in bold letters.
Warren Smith is a former New Age follower who at one time was deeply involved in the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles. He is the author of these insightful books:
Deceived on Purpose: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/01743purpose.htm
The Light that was Dark: http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01743light.htm
Reinventing Jesus Christ (2nd edition which is posted online): http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com
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See also "Oprah and Friends" to teach course on New Age Christ
Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel - Chapter 5
Dominionism and the Rise of Christian Imperialism
A Blinding Darkness | The Second Reformation
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