Evangelicals and New Agers Together

by Warren Smith

The star which the world is awaiting though it does not as yet know its name… this star cannot be other than that very Christ in whom we hope. Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe (1)

 I stared again at the material that had been sent to me by a radio listener. In a program aired last summer, I had been talking about the deceptiveness of the New Age and how it was working its way into the fabric of the church. The information in front of me, if true, was very disturbing. Jay Gary, a veteran in the Christian missions field, and the author of a heavily endorsed, recently released book entitled The Star of 2000, had apparently invited prominent New Age leader Robert Muller to be a key advisor for his Christian organization. Compounding the matter, Gary seemed to be openly recommending a book written by Muller.

A Gary publication, Bimillennial Research Report, dated March/April 1992, featured a “Bimillennial Book List” that included former assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Robert Muller’s book The Birth of A Global Civilization. The book was listed at $9.95, and Gary described is as “an inspiring look at our emerging global system, including new global human rights, global networking, global core curriculum, and global celebrations culminating in the year 2000.”(2) I was stunned. Why would a Christian leader be aligned in any way with such an obvious New Age figure as Robert Muller?

The Significance of Muller

I immediately flashed back in my mind to 1982. Still deeply involved in the New Age movement, I was attending a meeting of local New Age leaders in my Northern California community. I remember the excitement we all felt when one of the presenters excitedly announced that a high ranking official at the United Nations was now “on board.” She described a New Age conference she had recently attended, at which high-ranking U.N. official Robert Muller, had been one of the speakers. She played a tape of Muller’s talk. His deep commitment to New Age principles radiated throughout his message. He spoke enthusiastically about an emerging global spirituality and how networking would be the key to attaining the spiritual transformations that could ultimately save the world.

Those of us listening to Muller’s taped presentation that day sensed the significance of Muller’s commitment to the New Age cause. This was definitely a major victory for “our side.” We could all sense that the tide was turning. “Old age” ideologies were falling. A New Age really was on the horizon. At last, someone with position in the world was championing New Age ideas.

Shortly after the 1982 meeting, I remember a friend giving me a copy of Muller’s book New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality. The book was not only a declaration of Muller’s own eclectic New Age spirituality, but was also his invitation to the religions of the world to begin working together, under the general auspices of the UN. I remember being fascinated that New Age spirituality was moving into the political arena. Suddenly world peace didn’t seem so far off. New Genesis introduced the hope that one day the United Nations would implement the spiritual vision that we in the New Age so desperately desired for the earth; all religions coming together as one, love rather than fear ruling the affairs of mankind, peace and brotherhood pervading the planet.

To reacquaint myself with Muller, I found my research copy of Muller’s book New Genesis. In Chapter 6, entitled “Prayer and Meditation at The United Nations,” Muller outlined his basic beliefs.

Hindus call our earth Brahma, or God, for they rightly see no difference between our earth and the divine. This ancient simple truth is slowly dawning again upon humanity. Its full flowering will be the real, great new story of humanity, as we are about to enter our cosmic age and to become what we were always meant to be: the planet of God.(3)

Then in Chapter 17, entitled The Reappearance of Christ, was the heart of Muller’s call for New Age ecumenism. He wrote,

The world’s major religions in the end all want the same thing, even though they were born in different places and circumstances on this planet What the world needs today is a convergence of the different religions in the search for and definition of the cosmic or divine laws which ought to regulate our behavior on this planet. World-wide spiritual ecumenism, expressed in new forms of religious cooperation and institutions, would probably be closest to the heart of the resurrected Christ. (4)

Remembering how passionately I too, once believed all those things, I closed the book and thought to myself – Muller’s “‘broad way” world-wide spiritual ecumenism, no matter how well intentioned, is not close to the heart of Christ. Jesus did not talk of world ecumenism. He warned that the path of truth was a “”narrow” way and that few would find it. He tells his followers, “‘Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13-14).

And it was right after His warning about the dangers of the “broad way” that Jesus told his disciples to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matt. 7:15). He later reiterated his warning by saying, ” And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” (Matt. 24:11)

Robert Muller is without question one of the chief false prophets of our time. Because he seems so “”positive” and “”spiritual” and works so tirelessly for the cause of peace, it’s often hard for people to discern the danger of the doctrine he brings with him. While describing himself as “Catholic,” Muller’s definition of Christ comes not from the Bible, but from the unscriptural teachings of people like occultist Alice Bailey, mystical Catholic Teilhard de Chardin, and New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard. Because of his declared allegiance to their extremely unbiblical teachings, Muller’s identification with “Catholicism” and “Christianity” is ultimately empty and very deceptive.

So while an undiscerning world sees Muller as a very pleasant and agreeable “”Christian” statesman, he is in reality a New Age esotericist. Because of his particular devotion to Bailey and Chardin, Muller’s references to “Christ” have to be taken in their New Age context. Bailey and Chardin’s “Cosmic Christ” is not the Christ of the Bible. As a matter of fact, Muller’s chapter heading, The Reappearance of Christ, that I had just seen in New Genesis, was taken directly from Alice Bailey’s book of the same name. Those familiar with Bailey’s work know that her books were all directly channeled from the spirit world through a “Tibetan” spirit-guide named “Djwhal Khul.”

The Significance of Jay Gary

So why was an “evangelical” Christian leader like Jay Gary involved with a New Age leader like Robert Muller? In an effort to better understand the relationship between Gary and Muller, I started accumulating some of their books and materials. And as I started reading through this material I could see that the predominant bond between these two men was the year 2000. Muller, long an advocate for Bimillennial celebrations, had apparently been drafted by Gary to help him with his own efforts to celebrate the year 2000.

In 1991, Gary founded the Bimillennial Global Interaction Network (B.E.G.I.N.). Gary describes B.E.G.I.N. in his promotional literature as ”…a global network of groups and individuals who are working together to insure that the 2000, is celebrated as a planetary jubilee by the whole human family.”

And though it was hard to believe, there was Robert Muller prominently listed as one of the organization’s three “key people.” Jay Gary was described as the Executive Director of “Celebration 2000” and was listed as one of the other two ‘key people’ for B.E.G.I.N. Paul Guest, the head of a group in England called “World Association for Celebrating the year 2000” was third.

Listed under the “key people” were a number of what Gary called “key words”. They were Bimillennial/Future Civilization /Networking /Solidarity /Global and /Anniversaries, mega. Still dumbfounded that Gary was involved with one of the world’s most powerful New Age leaders, I was intrigued that he also seemed to be using Muller’s vocabulary.

I wondered how Gary had rationalized his way past the scriptures that warn us not to become “a friend of the world” (James 4:4) and to become “unequally yoked together with unbelievers”. (2 Cor 6:14) But Gary, instead of having, “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” and “reproving” them (Eph 5:11), was having fellowship and even recommending them. Jesus had no problem in befriending sinners, but he never furthered their works. For an Evangelical leader like Gary to be “unequally yoked” with a New Age leader, and even selling his book, was not exactly what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples to “go ye into all the world.” (Mark 16:15)

 Sidebar#1

 

TEILHARD de CHARDIN: Christianity and Evolution

For a century now, the persistently growing importance of humanity in modern thought has been a matter of concern and anxiety to defenders of religion. A new star has risen, a rival, they believed, to God; and they have constantly sought to deny its reality or diminish its brilliance. (p. 147)

In other words what we must recognize in this present crisis, in which we can see and feel the confrontation between the traditional Christian forces and the modern forces of evolution, is simply the permutation of a providential and indispensable interfertilization. (p. 176)

. . . a “religion of the future” (definable as a “religion of evolution”) cannot fail to appear before long: a new mysticism, the germ of which (as it happens when anything is born) must be recognizable somewhere in our environment, here and now. (p. 240)

. . . the Cross still stands . . . But this is on one condition, and one only: that is expand itself to the dimensions of a New Age, and cease to present itself to us as primarily (or even exclusively) the sign of a victory over sin. . . (pp. 219-220)

The more I study the matter, the more I am forced to accept this evidence that original sin, conceived in the form still attributed to it today, is an intellectual and emotional straitjacket. (p. 80)

. . . if a Christ is to be completely acceptable as an object of worship, he must be presented as the saviour of the idea and reality of evolution. (p.78)

A general convergence of religions upon a universal Christ who fundamentally satisfies them all: that seems to me the only possible conversion of the world, and the only form in which a religion of the future can be conceived. (p. 130)

What I am proposing to do is to narrow that gap between pantheism and Christianity by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of Pantheism or the pantheist aspect of Christianity. (p. 56)

From the most distant origin of things until their unforseeable consummation, through the countless convulsions of boundless space, the whole nature is slowly and irresistibly undergoing the supreme consecration. Fundamentally — since all time and for ever — but one single thing is being made in creation: the body of Christ. (pp. 74-75)

. . . I can be saved only by becoming one with the universe. (p. 128)

. . . the Christian renaissance whose time is biologically due is on the point of emerging. . .(p. 148)

After what will soon be two thousand years, Christ must be born again, he must be reincarnated in a world that has become too different from that in which he lived. (p. 95)

I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution. (P. 95)

(All quotes taken from Christianity and Evolution by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971.)

 

Reflecting on Gary’s unbiblical involvement With Robert Muller, I picked up my copy of Gary’s book, The Star of 2000. I looked at the names of the twenty-one Christians who had endorsed his book. They included some very well known names in the Christian establishment, from Bill Bright (President of Campus Crusade) and David Bryant (president of the Concerts of Prayer), to Joe Aldrich (President of Multnomah College) and Paul Cedar (president of The Evangelical Church of America). The President of The National Religious Broadcaster Association, the Chaplin of the United States Senate, and even Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet, had endorsed his book!

  • Paul Eshleman (The JESUS Project), another one of the book’s endorsers, proclaimed in his endorsement that “A global celebration of unparalleled magnitude is about to begin.”

  • Gary Clad (American Baptist Church) wrote, “this positive message of the all glorious Jesus supersedes the doom and gloom prognosticators of this decade.”

  • Pastor Clarice Fluitt (Eagle’s Nest Church) wrote, “This is an incredibly prophetic book… [Gary] declares that the church must prepare a celebration, a festival for, about and with Jesus our honored guest and royal Bridegroom.”

  • Dr. Joe A Harding (Vision 2000, United Methodist Church) wrote, “Not since the publication of Megatrends 2000 has a book grasped the awesome potential of the year 2000. Jay Gary has a global vision which surpasses denominational racial and national barriers.”

But I was still asking myself-who is Jay Gary? From reading the introduction to an earlier Gary book, entitled The Countdown Has Begun, I could see by his credits that he had been very active in Christian leadership for years.(5) Although his name is not one that most Christians would recognize, he has worked intimately with a number of high profile Christian organizations. He served as the coordinator of the AD 2000 Global Service Office, worked as a research consultant for Campus Crusade’s Worldwide Student Network, and had been a Program Director for Billy Graham’s Lausanne movement, Leadership ’88, as well as serving as an assistant to Lausanne’s International Director.

He had been the consultation director for the AD 2000 and Beyond’s Global Consultation on World Evangelization held in Singapore in January 1989. He served as the executive editor for World Christian Magazine (YWAM) and was the person responsible for developing the popular Perspectives Study Program that has been used world-wide by thousands of Christian students. Most recently, he served as state Coordinator for the Colorado March For Jesus. Gary was obviously no stranger to the Christian establishment, and with so many Christian leaders having worked with him, and now endorsing his book, it seemed that Gary was not only highly regarded but somehow, in some way, was also speaking for them.

 Star of 2000

In introducing The Star of 2000, Gary tells us that as the star shone over Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth, so there is a star hanging over the year 2000. He says that “like a magnet in time” the year 2000 reaches out to humanity as a symbol of hope. Recognizing that the world is gearing up for a massive bimillennial celebration, Gary proposes that Christians seize the moment by encouraging the world in a multitude of ways to focus their celebration on Jesus’ 2000th birthday.

 In making the case for his “jubilee” birthday celebration, Gary describes the bimillennial energy that seems to be building as we near the year 2000. He begins his book by describing the Disney spectaculars designed by Disney mastermind Bob Jam. Gary writes of Jam’s secret dream of using his Disney skills to help prepare the world for the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Gary says that even though Jam died prematurely, “His dream to celebrate the 2,000th birthday of our Lord is spreading to the hearts of millions. (6)

Gary also cites the dream of a young dental student in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1984. Dr. George Heiner is quoted as saying. “It must have been about 4 a.m. when I awoke from the most powerful dream of my life. I was in a room filled with angels singing praises…I got up quickly, sat at my desk, and wrote down these words: ‘There is going to be a celebration in the year 2000 of song and praise celebrating faithfulness in Jesus Christ’.”(7)

Inspired by the dream, Heiner founded an organization to help launch this celebration for Jesus through art, drama, television, and music. Heiner’s strategy was to link various groups together as they planned for the year 2000. “‘The celebration I am involved in planning,’ claims Heiner, ‘is not limited to Christians by any means.”‘(8)

Dr. Heiner is so convinced of the authenticity of his dream and the message of Gary’s book, that he has started his own “Club 2000.” He includes Gary’s book as part of a “smile savers package” that he advertises in local papers and on Christian radio. For $35.50 you get a dental exam, prophylaxis, X-Rays, and The Star of 2000 book. (9)

Gary says that in Jesus’ honor the year 2000 should be the most important celebration in the history of civilization. He describes with great enthusiasm how “Bimillennial tributes to Jesus will fill our cities, churches, theaters, libraries, museums and stadiums.”(10) He even describes the 90’s as a “decade of destiny.” He said that in the late 1980’s as a conference planner for Billy Graham’s Lausanne movement, he began to notice how the church’s agenda began to shift toward AD 2000. He said that leaders around the world “were joining bands to fulfill the great commission by the year 2000.”(11)

Gary wonders if we as Christians have missed our witness to the world by being too confrontational. He said that rather than confrontation, perhaps what the world is waiting for is an invitation to come to the Lord’s banquet table. The idea of a “common meal” being shared by the world in the year 2000 seems to be the centerpiece of Gary’s proposed bimillennial birthday celebration. With tremendous optimism, Gary contends that AD. 2000 will be the most meaningful Christmas in 2000 years. He believes that as a result of the jubilee celebration “…the whole world will experience a new awakening in light of the new millennium. “(12) Gary says that the year 2000 could offer us “everything. ” He says, “What better culmination to the bimillennial than to have the guest of honor, the Lord Jesus, personally arrive to usher in His Kingdom?” (13)

Gary’s enthusiasm about the year 2000 fills his book. From his description of artist Andy Lakey painting 2000 angel paintings by the year 2000, to the 25 ways you can light a candle for Christ, Gary seems to know everything that’s being planned for the bimillennium. He says that the bimillennial will be “…the world’s biggest birthday party in honor of the world’s greatest leader.”(14) Yet as he chronicled the Disneyland spectaculars, CNN specials, and the “Jesus Christ Superstar” type musicals that he envisions surrounding this event, there were no warnings about possible deception. The only two times the New Age was mentioned in his book they were, by their context, favorable, rather than warning references. One of them was a quote from Robert Muller. (15)

Gary writes in The Star of 2000 that UN leaders have talked for almost 20 years about celebrating the year 2000 as a year of world “thanksgiving.” He says that UN observers have predicted, that after the UN celebrates its 50th “jubilee” anniversary this summer, it will then proclaim the year 2000 to be a jubilee year for all mankind.

Gary then describes how former UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller has written a novel detailing suggestions on how the UN should prepare for this landmark bimillennial event. Gary tells his readers how Muller’s book First Lady of the World begins in the year 1992 with the installation of Lakshmi Narayan, the first female Secretary-General at the UN. She is described by Gary only as an “Indian diplomat.”

Gary describes how Narayan “…becomes an advocate for worldwide celebrations of the year 2000, preceded by unparalleled thinking, inspiration, and planning for the achievement of a peaceful and happy human society on earth.”(16) Gary quotes Muller’s description in the novel of the projected events preceding the advent of the much anticipated New Age.

The year 2000 was an incredible event. Ever since the UN General Assembly recommended to hold this world-wide celebration, ideas, visions, programs, projects, movements, institutions, awards and publicity campaigns for the year 2000 and the advent of the third millennium sprang up all over the world. It was a universal outbidding of enthusiasm, inspiration, imagination, discussions, and conferences on the expected New Age. (17)

Why Gary quotes Muller for the better part of two pages with no qualifying remarks about his New Age reference is truly a mystery. 

Muller’s occultism and New Age involvement are never brought to the reader’s attention. Gary’s reporting style keeps the reader focused on the bimillennium rather than the spiritual motives of some of the people Gary is quoting.

Muller, Chardin and Gary

Robert Muller, currently the Chancellor Emeritus of The University for Peace in Costa Rica, continues to be active in U.N. affairs. He also oversees several Robert Muller Schools. These schools are based on a World Core Curriculum that Muller authored in its skeletal form. The World Core Curriculum is now being uniformly introduced into public schools throughout the world. In preface to The Robert Muller School World Core Curriculum Manual the reader is told, “the underlying philosophy upon which The Robert Muller School is based will be found in the teachings set forth in the books of Alice A. Bailey by the Tibetan teacher, Djwhal Khul.”(18) Bailey’s Education in the New Age is also quoted in the preface.

The purpose of the curriculum is to provide students with a “global education” so they can assume their “correct place in the universe” as “true planetary citizens.” The World Core Curriculum Manual assures teachers that “…humanity is slowly but surely finding the ways, limits and new codes of behavior which will encompass all races, nations, religions, and ideologies. (19) In My Testament to the UN Muller writes, “I thank God and the UN who permitted me to develop this world curriculum.”(20)

In reading through Muller’s numerous books I discovered that his conversion to a more spiritual way of life came at the UN while working under the Buddhist Secretary-General, U Thant. In New Genesis, Muller wrote about his former boss and mentor. He said, “I would like the whole world to benefit from my experience and to derive the same enlightenment, happiness, serenity and hope in the future as I derived from my contact with U Thant. I would never have thought that I would discover spirituality in the United Nations!”(21) Muller, in writing about what he called his Teilhardian enlightenments,” mentioned U Thant as one of those who exposed him to the teachings of Chardin.

Sidebar # 2

 

ROBERT MULLER: The U.N.

The U.N. is the global pilgrimage of humanity. (My Testament, p. 81)

The United Nations is much more than a political organization. It is a paradigm, the expression of a deep, evolutionary change which in the long run will transform the world for the best. (New Genesis, p. 122)

No one can stop evolution. . . A new world is being born in the U.N. (My Testament, p. 17)

And we could add another great sign of this New Age and historical trend: the birth of the United Nations itself. (New Genesis, p. 94)

Like the spring of a New Era, a new philosophy, spirituality and global civilization are slowly but surely emerging from the U.N. This is visible only to a few people today, but in the next century it will be crystal clear to all. (My Testament, p. 3)

The United Nations is the only place on Earth which can give humanity a new sense of direction, a general holistic philosophy and vision of a global, planetary civilization. (Ibid., pp. 8-9)

The UN is the New Genesis. (Ibid., p. 7)

To change the world we must support the UN with all of our heart. (Ibid., p. 146)

Perhaps the ultimate role of the United Nations will be to transform all humans into universal spiritual beings. (Ibid., p. 174)

Teilhard [de Chardin] had viewed the UN as the nascent institutional embodiment of his vision. . .[reflecting] accurately the unified system of planetary concerns, aspirations, convergence and consciousness he had conceived. (New Genesis, p. 161)

Humanity is one body, one brain, one heart, one soul. That is the new biology of civilization. It goes far beyond international cooperation. It encompasses each of us as the living cells of one vast human body. (My Testament, p. 22)

UN officials are the first bearers of world thoughts and feelings, the most advanced neurons of a nascent world brain, world heart and world soul. (Ibid., p. 81)

The people of the UN Meditation groups in New York and in Geneva are a great new generation of world servers. They know that tomorrow will be a spiritual tomorrow. (Ibid., p. 82)

At the beginning the UN was only a hope. Today it is a political reality. Tomorrow it will be the world’s religion. (Ibid., p. 4)

The UN’s tall glass building elevates high into the sky the dreams, hopes and loves of humanity, and channels down to Earth the cosmic messages of God and of the universe. (Ibid., p. 7)

Those who criticize the UN are anti-evolutionary, blind, self-serving people. Their souls will be parked on a special corral of the universe for having been retarding forces, true aberrations in the evolution and ascent of humanity. . . The future will show how wrong and misguided they are. (Ibid., pp. 148-9)

The UN is the fulfillment of a prophecy. (Ibid., p. 81)

Robert Muller, New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, Doubleday & Co., New York, 1982.

Robert Muller, My Testament to the UN, World Happiness and Cooperation, Anacortes, WA, 1992.

 

Muller a thirty-eight year veteran of leadership positions within the United Nations is still an important presence at the U.N. and often represents them at significant gatherings. At the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1993. Muller gave a plenary address entitled “Interfaith Understanding.” In his address Muller emphasized his New Age philosophy. He said. “There is one sign after the other, wherever you look, that we are on the eve of a New Age which will be a spiritual age.” He went on to say that “…we are entering an age of universalism… The whole humanity is becoming interdependent, is becoming one…So we are on the eve of a new spiritual renaissance.” Muller substantiated his claim of a coming renaissance by referring to an article he had recently read in the Dalai Lama bulletin citing the predications of astrologers that 1993 would be a turning point in human history. (22)

Jay Gary had highlighted what was then the upcoming Parliament of World Religions in his Bimillennial Research Report dated March-April 1992. His article about the Parliament gathering was positive and gave no hint of the underlying New Age agenda that would dominate the inter-faith meeting. The notice about the Parliament ran alongside a short article that mentioned Robert Muller’s book, The Birth of a Global Civilization, and Muller’s call for a world-wide celebration in the year 2000.

In my reading I found out that Robert Muller’s fondness for New Age Catholicism is most clearly revealed in his outspoken regard for Catholic mystic Teilhard de Chardin. In The Birth of a Global Civilization, Muller said that this “…archeologist and theologian, after a lifetime of study of the past of our planet and of the human species concluded that humanity would enter a New Age of evolution and metamorphose itself into a higher, peaceful, more responsible, super conscious, and spiritual global species.”(23)

Sidebar # 3

 

ALICE A. BAILEY: The Christ & the Coming World Religion

The New Age is upon us and we are witnessing the birth pangs of the new culture and the new civilization. (Externalisation, p. 62)

Humanity in all lands today awaits the Coming One — not matter by what name they may call Him. The Christ is sensed as on His way. The second coming is imminent. . .(Reappearance, p. 188)

Within the United Nations is the germ and the seed of a great international and meditating, reflective group — a group of thinking and informed men and women in whose hands lies the destiny of humanity. (Discipleship, p. 220)

[the New Group of World Servers]. . . are overseeing or ushering in the New Age, and are present at the birthpangs of the new civilisation. . .(Externalisation, p. 70)

Workers in the field of religion will formulate the universal platform of the new world religion. It is a work of loving synthesis and will emphasize the unity and the fellowship of the spirit. This group is, in a pronounced sense, a channel for the activities of the Christ, the world Teacher. The platform of the new world religion will be built by many groups, working under the inspiration of the Christ. (Reappearance, pp. 158-9)

The great theme of the new world religion will be the recognition of the many divine approaches and the continuity of revelation which each of them conveyed. . .(Ibid., p. 150)

This is the challenge which today confronts the Christian Church. The need is for vision, wisdom and that wide tolerance which will see divinity on every hand and recognize the Christ in every human being. (Bethlehem, p. 273)

The rule of the churches is over, but not the precepts of Christianity or the example of Christ. He is, however, responsible for a newer and more effective presentation of the coming world religion, and for that the churches should prepare. . .(Externalisation, p. 448)

I would point out that when I use the phrase “followers of the Christ” I refer to all those who love their fellowmen, irrespective of creed or religion. (Ibid., p. 468)

The churches in the West need also to realize that basically there is only one Church, but it is not necessarily only the orthodox Christian institutions. God works in many ways, through many faiths and religious agencies; this is one reason for the elimination of non-essential doctrines. (Reappearance, p. 159)

[The intelligent seeker] . . .is moving out from under doctrinal authority into direct personal, spiritual experience and coming under the direct authority which contact with Christ and His disciples, the Masters, gives. (Externalisation, p. 417)

The Forces of Darkness are powerful energies. . . they work to prevent the understanding of that which is of the New Age. . . they hold back the forces of evolution. . .(Ibid., p. 75)

This inherent fanaticism (found ever in reactionary groups) will fight against the appearance of the coming world religion. (Ibid., p. 453)

There must be no pessimism as to the future of mankind or distress over the disappearance of the old order. (Reappearance, p. 179)

The resources of the United Nations are vast and are now in process of mobilisation. (Externalisation, p. 368)

. . . when the United Nations has emerged into factual and actual power, the welfare of the world will then be assured. (Reappearance, p. 50)

Thus the expressed aims and efforts of the United Nations will be eventually brought to fruition and a new church of God, gathered out of all religions and spiritual groups, will unitedly bring to an end the great heresy of separateness. Love, unity, and the Risen Christ will be present, and He will demonstrate to us the perfect life. (Destiny, p. 152)

Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Lucis Pub. Co., NY 1957.

Alice A. Bailey, The Reappearance of the Christ, Lucis Pub. Co., NY 1948

Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Lucis Pub. Co., NY 1955

Alice A. Bailey, From Bethlehem to Calvary, Lucis Pub. Co., NY 1937

Alice A. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, Lucis Pub. Co., NY 1949

 

 In New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, Muller said he often heard himself being described as a “Teilhardian.” He admitted that “…now after a third of a century of service with the UN I can say unequivocally that much of what I have observed in the world bears out the all encompassing, global, forward-looking philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin.”(24)

Muller’s unabashed identification with Chardin should have put Gary on immediate alert. Instead he seems oblivious to the dangers of Muller’s doctrine. Perhaps because of his contact with Muller and others, even his own writing seems to have an underlying Teilhardian quality.

Gary had apparently so imbibed Muller’s fondness for Teilhard’s writings that one of Gary’s chapter subtitles, “Hymns of the Universe.” is the actual title of one of Teilhard de Chardin’s most mystical books about the Cosmic Christ! (25) And wouldn’t Gary find it curious that in Chardin’s Book this mystical godfather of the New Age also talks about a star that the world is waiting for – a star that heralds the coming of the Cosmic New Age Christ.

The star which the world is awaiting though it does not as yet know its name… this cannot be other than that very Christ in whom we hope. To look with longing to the Parousia of the Son of Man we have only to allow to beat within our breasts – and to christianize – the heart of the world. (26)

The Muller/Chardin/Gary connection takes an even more curious twist when one realizes that in the section immediately preceding the “Hymn of the Universe” subtitle, Gary footnotes a statement he makes on a book about evolution entitled The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry. (27) Swimme and Berry, as it turns out, are both cosmic evolutionists with a great affection for Teilhard de Chardin. Berry, a New Age priest, recently retired as the President of the American Teilhard Association. Berry’s co-author, Brian Swimme, is a colleague of New Age “Catholic” Matthew Fox, another outspoken proponent of Chardin’s Cosmic Christ. Fox and Swimme wrote a book together entitled MANIFESTO! For a Global Civilization. (28) Their work, of course, bears an uncanny resemblance to The Birth of a Global Civilization, the Muller book already recommended by Gary.

Gary’s apparent fascination for Teilhard’s teachings becomes even more evident in a Gary video entitled” The Power of AD 2000.”(29) In commenting on Swimme and Berry’s Universe Story in that message, Gary said, “I think there is no way we can back away from the great reappraisal the year 2000 will bring in our popular culture and our intellectual life of our planet. We as Christians have a dynamic theology of redemption, but a very static theology of creation right now, and this is one of the challenges in terms of trends 2000 will bring to us.”(30) Interestingly, in that same video Gary recommends a book entitled Wild Hope, by Christian author Tom Sine. Sine, in giving definition to the word “hope” at the beginning of his book, quoted Teilhard de Chardin as saying, “the world belongs to those who offer it hope.”(31) Is it a coincidence that Gary seems to be so intrigued by people who hold Chardin in such seemingly high regard?

Muller’s Global spirituality

 In The Birth of a Global Civilization Robert Muller writes.

 “…we need a global or cosmic spirituality. Religious leaders must get together and define before the end of this century the cosmic laws which are common to all faiths. They have been cosmic experts and interpreters of the heavens for a long time. They should tell the politicians what the cosmic laws are what God or the gods, of the cosmos are expecting from humans.”(32)

 One wonders what went through Gary’s mind when he read Muller’s “vision” at the end of this same book that he bas recommended to his readers.

And God saw that all nations of the Earth, black and white, poor and rich, from North and South, from East and West and of all creeds were sending their emissaries to a tall glass house on the shores of the River of The Rising Sun, on the island of Manhattan, to study together, to think together and to care together for the world and all its people. And God said: that is good. And it was the first day of the New Age of the earth. (33)

In a chapter titled “Beyond Globalism” in The Birth of a Global Civilization, Muller describes his novel, The First Lady of the World – the book that Gary quoted from so extensively in his own book, The Star of 2000. Muller tells us that while First Lady of the World is a fictional account, it nevertheless encapsulates the heart of his political plans for a New World Order.

 …we need a new global political system. The world is a political disaster, a museum of political antiquities. It is high time that we recognize it and do something about it I deal with it in Chapter 13 and in a novel, First Lady of the World, in which a woman who becomes Secretary-General of the UN has the courage of proposing ways to a new political world order to take us out of the present chaos. (34)

 Muller’s political savior is Lakshmi Narayan, the first woman to ever be appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations. Narayan is simply described by Gary in The Star of 2000 as “an Indian diplomat.” What Gary fails to mention to his readers is that Muller’s ideal global head is an outspoken Hindu devotee who worships Hindu “gods” at a UN altar, and that her spiritual “Master'” is an in-house Hindu guru named Sri Chinmoy. (35)

 In the novel, when first meeting with her staff after being appointed Secretary-General, Lakshmi tells them. “We have only a few years left to the year 2000. Let us work day and night to change the course of history and to prepare a third millennium of planetary peace, cooperation and human fulfillment.”(36)

 Later when her chief of staff suggests that she immediately meet with of all of her top colleagues she answers, “I have a slightly different priority. For me first comes God, spirituality and my right place in the universe and in time. I hear that there is a Hindu guru at the UN. I will need him for my spiritual guidance. Please ask him to come and see me.”(37) Sri Chimnoy comes to her office. After he bows down before her she responds by saying,

 Om shanti, Master. I know why you are here in this house. I know what brought you here from far away India and I am delighted that you came. Our western brothers may not understand your mission. They might even take you for a strange, mysterious fellow. But I thank you for the inspiration and spirituality you gave to many young staff members, all considered to be among the best, as I have heard. I am asking you to be my guru, my teacher, my cosmic inspirer in the pure Auroville tradition in which you were trained. I will be subjected to such enormous pressures from western materialism and intellectualism that I need your help to keep me in union with the universe. What would be your advice on this first day master? (38)

The Star of 2000 makes no mention of the extreme Hindu occultism that underlies everything that Muller proposes in his novel for the new millennium. And there is no hint in Gary’s book of the disdain Muller has for biblical Christianity. In First Lady of the World, Lakshmi marries an American capitalist and converts him to Hinduism. After meeting with an Indian psychic, the capitalist partakes in a ritualistic Hindu wedding, where as part of the ceremony he surrenders himself to various Hindu gods.

At one point in Muller’s novel Lakshmi’s husband reflects on the emptiness of his own western spiritual experience and his gratitude to Lakshmi for introducing him to Hinduism.

He had never been a religious or spiritual person and as a youth he had listened to his religious instructors only with a distant, uninterested ear. But here was a person, deeply anchored in the most cosmic philosophy ever devised on this planet by the sages of her country over thousands of years.

This was not life and spirituality but spirituality as life, matter and life being particular forms of the invisible cosmic energy that pervades the universe, of the immense body and constant new manifestations of the godhead. (39)

In his novel Muller portrays himself in the person of a learned Frenchman, Louis Parizot. Parizot is an experienced UN insider who advises Lakshmi Narayan. Muller’s New Age ideals are continually presented within the framework of the novel-through Parizot and many of the other characters. Having come out of the New Age I am extremely concerned when I read about such out front New Age maneuvering through the offices of the UN. Muller seems to be almost telegraphing his plans for the year 2000. The more I read Muller’s work the more I was amazed Gary had gotten involved with on any level.

The second epistle of John was really straightforward. It said, “whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” (2 John 9-10)

Celebrating the Cosmic Christ

One day in the midst of my reading of Muller and Gary, I went to the local drugstore to get a few things. Standing at the checkout counter I picked up a copy of the current NEW AGE JOURNAL and started reading. Having just read chapter 8 in Gary’s book that footnoted cosmic evolutionists Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, I was amazed when the article I was reading, “Glory Be to Gaia” made reference to both of these men. Phil Catalfo, a contributing editor for NEW AGE JOURNAL was reporting on the celebration of a “Planetary Mass” that he had recently attended at San Francisco’s Grace Episcopal Cathedral.

He wrote that the Planetary Mass had been inspired by “maverick priest” Matthew Fox, ”…as well as by the ‘new creation story’ propounded by the likes of theologian Thomas Berry and cosmologist Brian Swimme.” (40) It was interesting to see Swimme and Berry’s names prominently featured so soon after reading their names in Gary’s book. Both men are colleagues of Fox. Swimme’s endorsement on the back of Fox’s book, THE COMING OF THE COSMIC CHRIST, called Fox’s book “the eight wonder of the world”.

The Planetary Mass was described by Catalfo as a cosmic celebration. He reported that a cross-section of young people, largely recruited from local clubs and environmental groups, were among the roughly 300 people that gathered at the cathedral last October. Fox’s all encompassing, multi-media celebration of the earth and coming Cosmic Christ had the full blessing of regional California Episcopal Bishop William Swing.

Amidst the multimedia slides and strobe lights and avant-garde music, Fox told those gathered that

“Our species got so excited about texts that we associated ‘the word of God’ with books, and we forgot something ancient: that as Meister Eckhart said, Every creature is a word of God” (41)

Fox, who just a few years ago was echoing Chardin’s complaint that no one was paying attention to the cosmic Christ, (42) was now at the vanguard of New Age Christianity. Fox proclaimed to those in attendance that they were now learning how to play with “more dancing and fewer books.” Old age theology and stuffiness was out and New Age experiencing and celebration was in.

After the Sanctus chant that celebrated billions of years of “cosmic evolution” came the communion. The ex- Catholic New Age reporter accepted the wafer as “the body of Christ.” Echoing the New Age philosophy of Fox and Chardin, he said

 “…by taking Communion, I was partaking of the life force that fuels Creation; able to perceive of myself as part of the divine Body of the universe receiving the energy of the ‘cosmic Christ’.”(43)

Catalfo described the planetary Mass as emphasizing original blessing rather than original sin. He summarized his experience by saying, “The Planetary Mass is a reformulation of traditional Christian worship,” or as he called it “the Mass reborn for a new millennium.” (44) The New Age Journal reporter expressed surprise that the service took place at what he called “a mainstream Christian denomination.” He said at the end of his article “Had there been a Planetary Mass in my parish twenty-five years ago, I realized, I might never have left the Church. (45)

As I drove home from the store I kept thinking about Catalfo’s words. The New Age Journal reporter had confided to his readers that if there had been Planetary Masses when was younger, he might never have left the church. Fox’s cosmic celebration had apparently convinced at least one New Ager that his New Age spiritual needs could be met at what he called a “main-stream Christian denomination.” Catalfo witnessed to his readers that in and through communion he had experienced the life force of the Cosmic Christ. Sadly, he had no idea that the “Christ” he experienced was not the real Jesus, but rather a false Christ that Jesus warned would come in His name. (Matt: 24:4-5)

A “New Vision” of Christ

As I weaved my way along a quiet country road, I was very subdued. Catalfo was probably much like myself when I was in the New Age. Eager. Sincere. Wanting to experience the reality of Christ’s Spirit. I could see so clearly how the dangers of where the world’s celebrations might be beading. The New Age Christ was now offering himself as an experience to those who took communion with him in New Age “christian” settings – like Matthew Fox’s Planetary Mass.

Teilhard de Chardin wrote that all major religions would eventually converge in the person of the Cosmic Christ. And Matthew Fox’s Planetary Mass was now a working prototype for worship and communion with this Universal Cosmic Christ.

Interestingly, Matthew Fox, Blain Swimme, and Barbara Marx Hubbard all received significant grant money from Laurence Rockefeller to complete their cosmic evolutionary books on “Christ” and the Universe. Hubbard writes that Rockefeller’s “intuition about the Christ of the 21st century” deeply inspired her. (46)

When Gary says we need a “new vision of Christ” for the year 2000, he could be walking the Church into some very dangerous territory. There is nothing in scripture to indicate that we need a “new” vision of Jesus. The Bible says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) And right after that it says, “Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines.” (Heb. 13:9)

I recently found out that Gary has removed Robert Muller’s name from his list of “key people.” But questions about Muller, the UN, and other New Age issues still remain. With a false Christ already active in the world, it will be important to watch how Gary deals with the subject of New Age in the future. If Gary comes to terms with the reality of New Age deception, he could be in a good position to help a lot of people. But if he persists in only focusing on Jesus bimillennial celebrations that play into New Age agendas, he could lead many people astray. I pray that he does not find himself sitting in some Planetary Mass in the year 2000, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus as he raises his communion cup in thanksgiving to the Cosmic Christ.

Endnotes:

1 New York 1961, Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe, Harper & Row: P.149
2 Jay Gary, Bimillenial Research Report (Mar/Apr 1992): Colorado Springs, Co.
3 Robert Muller, New Genesis, Doubleday & Co.: Garden City, NY, 1982, P. 49
4 Ibid, P. 126
5 Jay and Olgy Gary, The Countdown Has Begun, AD 2000, Global Service Office: Rockville, Va., 1989
6 Jay Gary, The Star of 2000, Bimillennial Press: Colorado Springs, Co., 1994, P. 22
7 ibid, P. 23
8 ibid,
9 West Livermore Potpourri, Jan. 18, 1995 (paid advertisement on front page)
10 The Star of 2000, P. 25
11 ibid, P. 26
12 ibid, P. 27
13 ibid, P. 66
14 ibid, P. 129
15 ibid, pp. 90-91
16 ibid, pp. 89-90
17 ibid, P. 90
18 The Robert Muller School World Core Curriculum Manual, 1986
19 ibid, P. 7
20 Robert Muller, My Testament to the UN, World Happiness and Cooperation, Anacortes, WA, 1992, P.125
21 New Genesis, P. 171
22 Christian Research Journal, Fall 1993, pp. 11-12
23 Robert Muller, The Birth of a Global Civilization, World Happiness and Cooperation, Anacortes, WA, 1991, P. 4
24 New Genesis, P. 160
25 Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe, Harper & Row; New York 1961
26 ibid, P. 149
27 Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story, Harper Collins: San Francisco, 1992
28 Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme, Manifesto! Bear & Co.: Santa Fe, N.M., 1982
29 Jay Gary, The Power of AD 2000 Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse, Colorado Springs, Co.
30 ibid,
31 Tom Sine, Wild Hope, Word Publishing: Dallas, TX., 1991, P. 11
32 The Birth of a Global Civilization, p. 114
33 ibid, p. 134
34 ibid, p. 114
35 Sri Chinmoy is an actual person and he has been affiliated with the UN for several decades.
36 Robert Muller, First Lady of the World, World Happiness and Cooperation, Anacortes, WA, 1991. p. 9
37 ibid. p. 10
38 ibid. p. 11
39 ibid. p. 135
40 New Age Journal, Feb. 1995, “Glory Be To Gaia,” Phil Catalfo, p. 63
41 ibid, p. 65
42 Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Harper Collins: San Francisco, 1988, p.77
43 New Age Journal, Feb. 1995, p. 130
44 ibid, p. 131
45 ibid.
46 Barbara Marx, Hubbard, The Revelation, The Foundation For Conscious Evolution, Greenbrae, CA, 1993, p. 340