Printer Friendly Version (click here)            June 16, 2009

In This Issue - click choice

15 Percent of US Hospitals Now Using Occultic Method - Reiki

Is There "Christian" Yoga?

2009 Conferences Provide Platform for Contemplative/Emerging Speakers

WorldNetDaily: Darwin-loving Museum Shooter Hates Bible and Christians

Missouri Baptist Layman Moran Takes on Emergent Church

The Desert Fathers - Borrowing from the East

The Age of Aquarius and a Promise of Peace

POLITICS & FAITH CORNER: Acting Fabian

Goddess Worship (and The Shack) in America

A "Wonderful" Deception Has Gone to Press

Now Available - New DVD Series

Publishing News

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15 Percent of US Hospitals Now Using Occultic Method - Reiki

In a recent article in Reiki News, it was revealed that 15 percent of all US hospitals are now implementing the practice of Reiki. In Reiki, a type of therapeutic touch, it is believed that the ki (chi) energy (a supposed universal energy that flows through all things) can be used to heal people. In the Reiki News article written by Reiki proponent William Lee Rand, Rand expresses a concern about a statement released by US Catholic bishops asking Catholic hospitals not to use Reiki because of its Buddhist roots. Rand tries to show that Reiki is a scientific method that has healing results.

However, as Rand explains his views on Reiki, the discerning reader begins to realize that Reiki is not scientific at all but rather a spiritual approach. Rand admits that "Reiki healing energy directs itself." He says:

I was unable to direct it with my mind or will and realized this wasn't necessary as Reiki had its own form of guidance that was superior to my own. This experience has been verified by other professional Reiki practitioners and forms the basis of one of the important keys to using Reiki: If you want Reiki to provide the best healing experience, it's necessary for the practitioner to set their own desire, will and ego aside, and allow the Reiki energy to guide itself.

Author Ray Yungen, who says there are now over one million Reiki channelers in the US alone (a million in Germany also), explains this "energy" behind Reiki further:

One practitioner describes the experience in the following way:

When doing it, I become a channel through which this force, this juice of the universe, comes pouring from my palms into the body of the person I am touching, sometimes lightly, almost imperceptibly, sometimes in famished sucking drafts. I get it even as I'm giving it. It surrounds the two of us, patient and practitioner.1

What is this "juice of the universe?" The answer is an important one, given by a renowned Reiki master [Rand] who explains:

A Reiki attunement is an initiation into a sacred metaphysical order that has been present on earth for thousands of years ... By becoming part of this group, you will also be receiving help from the Reiki guides and other spiritual beings who are also working toward these goals.2

While this is not widely advertised, Reiki practitioners depend on this "spirit guide" connection as an integral aspect of Reiki. In fact, it is the very foundation and energy behind Reiki. One Reiki master who has enrolled hundreds of other masters spoke of her interaction with the spirit guides:

For me, the Reiki guides make themselves the most felt while attunements are being passed. They stand behind me and direct the whole process, and I assume they also do this for every Reiki Master. When I pass attunements, I feel their presence strongly and constantly. Sometimes I can see them.3

A Christian's initial response to this information might be, "So what? I don't travel in those circles, so it does not concern me." This nonchalant viewpoint would be valid except for the fact that Reiki is currently growing to enormous proportions and in some very influential circles. (It may even be in your local hospitals, schools, and youth organizations.) It is essential to know that many nurses, counselors, and especially massage therapists use Reiki as a supplement to their work. It is often promoted as a complementary service. (ATOD, pp. 94-95).

In Rand's article, he talks about a doctor who has been largely responsible for the growing popularity of Reiki. Dr. Mehmet Oz is "one of the most respected cardiovascular surgeons in the US" who "uses Reiki during open-heart surgeries and heart transplants." According to Dr. Oz, "Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals."5 Dr. Oz is a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. No doubt, she has been an evangelist for Dr. Oz and Reiki treatments. Yungen discusses this rapid growth in popularity:

The reason for this level of acceptance is easy to understand. Most people, many Christians included, believe if something is spiritually positive then it is of God. A pastor friend of mine recounted a situation in which a Christian, who had some physical problems, turned to Reiki for comfort. When this pastor advised the man that Reiki fundamentally opposed the Christian faith he became furious and responded with the following defense, "How can you say this is bad when it helped me?" [However], if something is of God it will conform to the very cornerstone of God's plan to show His grace through Christ Jesus and Him alone (Ephesians 2:7). Reiki, as I defined earlier, is based on the occult view of God.

This assessment of Reiki is beyond question. Every Reiki book I have ever seen is chock full of pronouncements that back up the point I am trying to make. In The Everything Reiki Book, the following clears up any doubt about Reiki's incompatibility with Christianity:

During the Reiki attunement process, the avenue that is opened within the body to allow Reiki to flow through also opens up the psychic communication centers. This is why many Reiki practitioners report having verbalized channeled communications with the spirit world.4 (from ATOD, p. 97)

Lighthouse Trails urges you to be sure to ask your own health practitioner if he or she plans to perform Reiki on you or your loved ones when you or they are on the operating table or at any other time during health care treatment. We are living in a society that has integrated occult mysticism into every facet of life. The Bible gives a prophetic statement about such practices (of which includes contemplative spirituality), which should not be ignored or taken lightly.

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Revelation 18:22-24

Notes:

1. "Healing Hands" (New Woman Magazine, March, 1986), p. 78.
2. William Rand, Reiki: The Healing Touch (Southfield, MI: Vision Pub.,1991), p. 48.
3. Diane Stein, Essential Reiki (Berkley, CA: Crossing Press, 1995), p. 107.
4. Phylameana lila Desy, The Everything Reiki Book (Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2004), p. 144.

Is There "Christian" Yoga?

2009 Conferences Provide Platform for Contemplative/Emerging Speakers

WorldNetDaily: Darwin-loving Museum Shooter Hates Bible and Christians

Missouri Baptist Layman Moran Takes on Emergent Church

The Desert Fathers - Borrowing from the East

The Age of Aquarius and a Promise of Peace

LTRP Note: In view of the late Marilyn Ferguson's upcoming re-release of her epic New Age book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Caryl Matrisciana's article (from her book Out of India) is most relevant today.  

Born and raised in India, Caryl Matrisciana was surrounded by a strange and mystical religion, seeing first hand the effects Hinduism had on the people of that nation. After leaving India as a young adult, she became involved in the counter-culture hippie movement, only to find that the elements of Hinduism and the New Age were very much the same. Eventually, Caryl would discover that this same spirituality had entered not only the Western world, but the Christian church as well, unbeknownst to most people.

"The Age of Aquarius and a Promise of Peace"
by Caryl Matrisciana

Millions of people who are being influenced by the New Age do not realize they are being conditioned by a powerful religious and political structure: globalism is the goal, and peace is the promise.

I remember endless conversations with peers in the '60s who were predominantly focused on hopeless gloom. With unrelenting paranoia, we discussed the inadequacies of society. "Everything," we agreed, "is corrupt." This included medicine, food, environment, politics, and education.

A cultivated atmosphere of fear and doom forced us to escape into our own man-made solutions, since answers could only come from us, the awareness brigade, and our enlightened alternatives. Like millions of others, we concluded that a new world order was our only salvation. Our spiritual resources, if encouraged and tapped correctly, could bring goodness, harmony and peace to the world.

The results of nearly fifty years of New Age infiltration into the Western world are staggering. In 1980, Marilyn Ferguson, a major New Age prophetess, wrote a veritable manifesto of New Age philosophy titled The Aquarian Conspiracy. Explaining the choice of title for her best seller, she says this:

Conspire, in its literal sense, means "to breathe together." It is an intimate joining. To make clear the benevolent nature of this joining, I chose the word Aquarian . . . after a dark, violent age, the Piscean, we are entering a millennium of love and light--in the words of the popular song, "The Age of Aquarius," the time of "the mind's true liberation."1

Although countless arguments will continue to debate the insinuation of New Age thinking into our culture, the consensus is that a widespread shift in consciousness is taking place. And this is displaying itself in our everyday lives, right under our noses!

New Age proponent David Spangler describes this hope of a New Age world:

The earth [is] entering a new cycle of evolution, which [will be] marked by the appearance of a new consciousness within humanity that would give birth to a new civilization . . . They would then enter a new age of abundance and spiritual enlightenment--the Age of Aquarius.2

This "spiritual enlightenment" can be capsulated in these characteristic points of the New Age:

1. God is seen more as a flowing energy or creative force that exists in all things rather than as a personal God who is distinct from man and creation.
2. Man is seen as divine, essentially a part of God.
3. Salvation for the soul is something attained when one becomes an awakened soul by understanding one's divinity and oneness with all. This awakening comes about through the use of various rituals and mystical practices that help remove one's attachment to the world.
4. The gap between good and evil is eradicated. In other words, there is no evil--all is divine.

The New Age offers new ideas of peace, love, integrity, and community--all that a needy world is hungry for. It attempts to reform religious ideals based on Judeo-Christian principles with an improved formula of application. It seeks to replace age--old sentiments of patriotism and traditional moral standards with a new philosophy. All of the old-fashioned ideals are dismissed as mundane and archaic.

It also casts the more serious charge that the "old ways" only serve to impede the progress of a society bent on an upward evolution to a higher consciousness--the new power.

The conditioning of a potential New Age disciple may start subconsciously at an early age. Perhaps he is trying to find answers and purposes for his life. A difficult family environment may urge him on. Disillusionments and disappointments may create needs. Dissatisfaction with religious hypocrisy may cause him to explore other philosophies. In my case, all of these contributed to my sense of powerlessness and resultant quest.

I became deeply committed to the New Age agenda, although I must admit I did not understand the spiritual implications. I merely longed for self-improvement and hungered after some kind of peace and love. In more troubled moments, I sensed a strange recognition of New Age teachings and sometimes felt a disturbing tension to realize that some wonderful new idea of mine had originally been written thousands of years before--in Hindu teachings.

My life experiences had taught me more about India and its religious ramifications than any of my enlightened friends would have dared guess. And in my recollection, nothing to be found along the streets of Calcutta, Bombay, or Madras promised a better life to anyone.

So, in accepting New Age teachings in the 1960s, had I somehow accepted the very religion that had frightened me so much as a child? If so, had I somehow misunderstood the sights and sounds and smells of my childhood? (from Out of India by Caryl Matrisciana, chapter 1)

Notes:
1. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy (Los Angeles, CA: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1980), p. 19.
2. David Spangler, Emergence (Delta 1984), p. 17.

Also by Caryl Matrisciana:
An Enlightened Race?

POLITICS & FAITH CORNER: Acting Fabian

by Carl Teichrib
courtesy Kjos Ministries

Since January, the world's eyes have focused on the United States' new president, Barack Obama.

This is understandable. Obama's charisma and electioneering slogan of "change" ignited imaginations in America and around the globe. And now "change" is happening; instead of Big Government it's Even Bigger Government, and instead of unmanageable debt levels its incomprehensible debt levels. In world affairs President Obama has taken a decidedly international-friendly approach. Even so, Barack is the new man on the block, and his public endorsement of global governance--while real and documentable[2]--is relatively mild compared to his fellow traveler across the Big Pond. So far...

If anyone has been a trumpeter for global change, it's England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Since taking office in 2007, Mr. Brown has incessantly called for a new internationalism. Listening to his speeches, it appears that the Prime Minister is more interested in supporting an empowered United Nations and European super-state, rather than advancing an independent, free, and prosperous Britain.

But does this really matter, especially to those outside of the United Kingdom?

For those living in England and the other European nations--and to a lesser extent the Commonwealth countries--Mr. Brown's position is understood: It's the desire to birth a successful "socialist international." However, for those residing in the United States, Gordon Brown's name means little. After all, why should someone in Cleveland care what the Prime Minster of England says or supports?

Because the world is a much bigger place then CNN and Fox News, and England is a global leader, exerting enormous influence through its roles in the United Nations and NATO, and it's ongoing leadership in the Commonwealth of Nations (a grouping of 53 member countries). Furthermore, it's a major holder of US treasury securities (American debt). In fact, the United Kingdom is currently the seventh largest holder of US securities (the ten biggest holders in descending order are China, Japan, Caribbean Banking Centers, Oil exporting countries--OPEC, Brazil, Russia, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and Taiwan).[3] Yet this pales in comparison to the role Great Britain has played as an historical driver during the past one hundred-plus years; Few other countries have fashioned the present global landscape like the British have.4

And now UK leadership is attempting to forge a path through the global economic storm. In this respect the nation holds the 2009 Chair for the Group of 20, a conglomerate of financial ministers and central bank governors from the twenty most important industrialized and developing countries. This is the principal vehicle being used to guide us through the economic hurricane, and how the world will function on the other side will reflect the G20's vision. Click here to read this entire article.

Related Information:

What About the Department of Peace?

Goddess Worship (and The Shack) in America

 by Teresa Morris
courtesy Kjos Ministries

The novel The Shack portrays God as being a woman. However, Jesus consistently called God, "Father." When His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them to address God as "Our Father which art in Heaven..." And when God Almighty became incarnate as a human being, God became a man -- not a woman.

The Bible warns us not to add to Scripture or take away from it. Yet, today's so-called "gender neutral Bibles" both add to new words and notions to Scripture and take away from Scripture. They remove references that are clearly male, and they add statements that imply a "father/mother" God. Do the publishers simply ignore Scriptures such as these:

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6)

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

In spite of those warnings, many Christians accept the female "God" of The Shack. Some pastors are preaching from the book, and some church study groups are based on it. As a result, many Christians have become used to thinking of God as being a woman. This is being done primarily through their imagination rather than their intellect.

Since those images are implanted in the mind and memory, reading novels and watching movies can change a person's worldview.

How could so many Christians accept The Shack in spite of its portrayal of God as a woman? One reason is the prevalence of goddess-related themes in entertainment, the media, and video games. Images of goddesses permeate our culture. (We even have "goddess dresses" for sale in department stores.) In addition, some people literally worship goddesses.

Goddess worship is most apparent among "neo-pagans." However, it is also common in universities and nursing schools. It is promoted by the media and is a component of New Age feminism. It has infiltrated main-line denominational churches, and its influence can be felt throughout our society.Click here to read this entire article.

Related Information:

Film Warning: The Secret Life of Bees May Leave Dangerous Sting

Understanding the Spirituality of Sue Monk Kidd (author of The Secret Life of Bees)

Articles critiquing The Shack

A "Wonderful" Deception Has Gone to Press

Warren Smith's new book, A "Wonderful" Deception: the further New Age implications of the emerging Purpose Driven movement has now gone to press. The book, originally scheduled to be a mid-June release, will be back from press on July 3rd. If you have pre-ordered this book, all backorders will be shipped on July 3rd. This cutting-edge book covers topics that are crucial to understanding the new spirituality that has so pervaded the church today.

Now Available - New DVD Series

The New Face of Mystical Spirituality