Is this AMERICA? Part 4
By Mary Ann Collins
October 24, 2007
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Is this AMERICA? Part 4 By Mary Ann Collins October 24, 2007 |
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Jesus came to give us life, abundant life. (See John 10:10.) But modern American culture is fascinated with death. You can see it clothing and tattoos with skulls and other death symbols, in violent entertainment, and in some toys. You can also see it in the way that "death education" is being taught in our public schools.
Occultism is becoming more and more mainstream. Christian churches and institutions are being influenced by non-Christian religions. The line between Christians and non-Christians has become blurred in the eyes of many church-going people, with the result that they no longer see the need to reach people with the Gospel.
DEATH EDUCATION in the PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Some public schools teach "death education." Some even have a "suicide talking day." On that day, students write suicide notes. They write their own obituaries and discuss what they will look like in their caskets. One student said that before "suicide talking day," she never considered the possibility of suicide. After that day, she began to contemplate it. She thought that it would "liberate her spirit" so that it would no longer be "enslaved to her body." In addition, it would help with the problem of global overpopulation. She said that the suicide training made her "brave enough" to commit suicide.1
Do you remember Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two students shot a number of their classmates and then committed suicide? That occurred in 1999. Since 1985, Columbine has been teaching death education classes.
In 1988, the "Atlantic Monthly" had an article about death education. It said that thousands of schools had the classes. Some of them only lasted a few days. Others took a full semester. In addition, many schools incorporated death education into other classes, including health, home-economics, social studies, and literature. In 1977, the National Education Association wrote a report saying that, just as sex education resulted in "wider acceptance" of a number of sexual practices, death education classes will radically change attitudes towards death.2
According to one student (Tara) who attended death education classes at Columbine, "death was made to look glamorous" and life was made to look difficult. Students were taught that "reincarnation would solve their problems." Tara said that during a "suicide talking day," students were told that they should trust their own judgment in deciding whether to live or die. In other words, they should not seek counsel from others. This effectively cuts them off from the wisdom, experience, and help of adults who care about them.3
If people really do believe that reincarnation will solve their problems, then why should they be reluctant to commit suicide? Or murder? Murderers could think that they were doing their victims a favor, because the victims would be reincarnated into a better situation.
TEACHING OCCULTISM in PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Public school students are being indoctrinated with New Age teachings and practices. Children are taught to put themselves into a trance and get counseling from imaginary friends, including Pumsy the Dragon. This teaches children to use "spirit guides," which is a New Age practice. The Pumsy curriculum was used in 40 percent of American public schools some years ago.4
Some Christians believe that spirit guides are really demons. Other Christians believe that they are a self-hypnotic deception. Either way, they are neither Christian nor wholesome.
Some school children have been taught to make "worry dolls" to ward off evil spirits, and to make representations of Hindu gods. One Earth Day assembly taught students that their mother is the earth and their father is the sun. Some schools teach children to perform Medicine Wheel ceremonies (a Native American ritual) and to use "dream catchers" as protection against evil spirits. Students are taught to do Native American ritual drumming and dancing. They are taught New Age teachings about crystals.5
A school in Pennsylvania had children from the third to fifth grades act out the Aztec practice of ritual human sacrifice. A school in California taught children about the Day of the Dead (a form of ancestral spiritism that is widely practiced in Mexico) and encouraged them to participate in rituals, including making altars.6
RELIGIOUS CONFUSION
A Lutheran college has appointed a practicing Hindu to be the head of its Department of Religion. One of his goals is to enable students to "see the world through Hindu eyes." He says that some forms of Christian evangelization produce violence and that people need to be set free from the "obsession of converting others."7
Thomas Ford is the chaplain of the Palliative Care Unit at a Cancer Center. Many of the patients there are dying. Ford is a Buddhist, but most patients and their families don't know that because they don't ask. He quietly chants mantras as he walks the hospital's halls, and he keeps his prayer beads with him. The chairman of the oncology/palliative care department believes that Ford's "meditation skills" give him the patience to be a good listener and to comfort people. Most patients and families welcome him as a "soothing influence." Ford has occasionally baptized babies and served communion.8
Wiccan beliefs and practices are getting into mainline denominations. For example, two Methodist clergywomen participated in a "croning ritual" (a witchcraft initiation ritual). They both wrote articles praising their experience in "Wellsprings," a journal for Methodist clergywomen. When contacted by "Insight on the News," both women confirmed their participation in the croning ritual, and said that their bishop (a woman) had also participated. When the bishop was contacted, she said that she "witnessed many croning rituals."9
A ten-session workshop called "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven" encourages goddess worship and endorses witchcraft. It has been circulated through the major denominations and adopted for use in many mainstream churches.10
The following quotation from the prophet Jeremiah gives God's perspective on this:
"Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger." (Jeremiah 7:16-18.)
The National Film Board of Canada produced "Goddess Remembered," which became one of their most popular productions ever. It was featured by public broadcasting TV stations in the United States as well as in Canada. "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven" and "Goddess Remembered" have become staples for study groups in some major denominations.11
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Jesus told us to focus on Him instead of allowing ourselves to become discouraged. He said,
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
It also helps to try to see things from the perspective of eternity. The Apostle Paul told us,
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:2-4)
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
NOTES
1. David Limbaugh, "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War against Christianity" (Regnery Press, 2003), pp. 84-85.
2. Ibid, pp. 84-86.
3. Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld, "Death Education at Columbine High," May 27, 1999.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=161424. David Limbaugh, "Persecution," pp. 79-81.
5. Ibid, pp. 81-82.
6. Ibid, pp. 83-84.
7. "Hindu Appointed to Run Christian Religion Studies" by Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily, June 8, 2007.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=560678. "Spiritual Companion: A Hospital Chaplain's Buddhist Teachings Aid Those in Grief" by Bill Lohmann, "The Richmond Times-Dispatch," October 1, 2007.
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-01-0002.html9. "Wicca Infiltrates the Churches -- Wiccan Rituals Gaining Popularity in Christian Churches" by Catherine Edwards, "Insight on the News," December 6, 1999.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_45_15/ai_5805062010. Philip G. Davis, "Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality" (Spence Publishing Company, 1998), pp. 24-25.
11. Ibid, pp. 25-27.
See also Is this America? Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
The emerging New World Order | Barbed Wire Camps for American Citizens
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