LTRP Note: The article below by Bob Kirkland is taken from his book, Calvinism: None Dare Call It Heresy (Lighthouse Trails). Over the years, Lighthouse Trails has witnessed how many people call themselves Calvinist largely because they believe in eternal security for true believers in Christ and they think that Calvinist teachings support eternal security because of the “P” in T.U.L.I.P. In actuality, as Kirkland shows, Calvinism does not offer or provide assurance of salvation. Thus, those who call themselves Calvinist primarily for their belief in eternal security should reconsider their “Calvinist” label.

By Bob Kirkland

The word perseverance is found only once in the Scriptures. Ephesians 6:18 commands the believer to be, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” This verse is speaking of perseverance in prayer and has nothing to do with persevering unto salvation. The dictionary meaning as well as the meaning of the Greek word here is to hold to or adhere to a course of action.1

CALVIN’S PERSEVERANCE IS NOT ETERNAL SECURITY

Many Christians wrongly assume that the Calvinist theory of “the perseverance of the saints” [the “P” in T.U.L.I.P.] is synonymous with the doctrine of eternal security. The biblical doctrine of eternal security teaches that one who has been truly saved by God’s grace is kept eternally saved by God’s grace. God has not left our eternal destiny in our ability to persevere. For God to do that would result in a salvation by works.

Citing Augustine, John Calvin wrote, “[T]hose who do not persevere unto the end belong not to the calling of God.”2

Calvin also stated:

[W]hat they [the Christians at Corinth] had attained so far is nothing, unless they keep steadily on; because it is not enough that they once started off on the way of the Lord, if they do not make an effort to reach the goal.3

In Calvinist author A. W. Pink’s book Practical Christianity, Pink taught, “[I]f there is a reserve in your obedience, you are on the road to hell.”4

Pink also said:

Something more than believing in Christ is necessary to ensure the soul’s reaching Heaven.5

Reformed minister John Otis states that, “maintaining an unforgiving spirit . . . will surely destroy our souls in hell.”6

In his book, The Doctrine of Sanctification, A. W. Pink stated:

[H]oliness in this life is such a part of our “salvation” that it is a necessary means to make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in heavenly light and glory.7

Calvinist theologian and co-founder of the Westminster Theological Seminary, Dr. John Murray states:

[L]et us appreciate the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and recognize that we may entertain the faith of our security in Christ only as we persevere in faith and holiness to the end.8

DID THE MAN GOD USED TO WRITE OVER FIFTY CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE NOT PERSEVERE?

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods . . . his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel . . . he kept not that which the LORD commanded. (1 Kings 11:4,9,10)

The man whom God used to write Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon turned away from God into idolatry and apostasy.

As noted, A. W. Pink said, “If there is a reserve in your obedience, you are on the road to hell.” How do Calvinists put this all together? Would they have us believe God predestined an unsaved (“non-elect”) man to write Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon and then when He was finished with him sent him to Hell?

WHAT ABOUT SAINTS WHO DIDN’T PERSEVERE?

First Corinthians 1:2 tells us this letter was written, “Unto the church.” It says they were “saints.” How does Calvin’s perseverance of the saints fit in with these saints God repeatedly referred to as “carnal”?

First Corinthians 5:13 commands the saints at the local church in Corinth to, “put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” The fact that they were not dealing with sin in their church is an example of the saints not persevering because the whole church was guilty of not dealing with a serious matter.

In the seven churches in Revelation, only one was found acceptable. By Calvin’s guidelines, the members of all these churches were going to Hell.

The Bible has many specific examples of believers who did not persevere according to John Calvin’s theory.

Noah got drunk, Abraham was a liar, Jacob schemed, Samson failed, David fell into sin and was responsible for the death of a man, Moses didn’t follow God’s instructions and was not allowed to enter the promised land, John Mark quit, Peter cursed and denied Christ, and all the disciples forsook Jesus. The list goes on and on. Yet, A. W. Pink said, “If there is a reserve in your obedience, you are on the road to hell.” That means all these people were on the road to Hell! And where does that leave us?

There is actually no eternal security in the doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints” because no one can ever know—even at the end of his life—if he had really persevered enough. And from a biblical standpoint, saints persevering for salvation are on extremely dangerous ground; as the apostle Paul points out, if you are depending on your works, works will not save you.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. . . .

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:16, 21)

Calvinists believe the “perseverance of the saints” offers them eternal security, but in actuality, it brings them more insecurity than ever regarding their salvation. Here, the persevering is left up to the strength of the believer rather than resting on the promises of God that assure us eternal life is based on what He has already done, not what we do. It is our part to believe, repent, and put our trust in Him and His part to save and preserve us.

Eternal security does not give believers permission to sin any more than the fathers of the faith, who stumbled, had an excuse for their sins and failures. However, the wonder of the Cross is that our sins are fully paid for—paid in full. Jesus said, “It is finished.” Our redemption has been entirely purchased. We can rest in the assurance of salvation that the Gospel offers, as expressed by the apostles and prophets. But Calvinism, while it claims to be wholly dependent on the grace of God for salvation, has actually turned everything upside down with the teaching of the “perseverance of the saints,” making salvation a works-based religion where grace is not truly grace. With Calvinism, the responsibility of salvation is put on the believer thereby nullifying grace altogether. Paul explained this when he said:

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Romans 11:6)

NO ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

Even John Calvin himself did not possess assurance of salvation. Writing in his will shortly before his death in 1564, he declared:

I testify also and profess that I humbly seek from God, that He may so will me to be washed and purified by the great Redeemer’s blood, shed for the sins of the human race, that it may be permitted me to stand before His tribunal under the covert of the Redeemer Himself.9 (italics in original)

John 3:36 says:

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Calvin taught that he could not believe unless God first regenerated him and gave him faith to believe. It is not surprising, therefore, that Calvin or any Calvinist cannot have an assurance of salvation and, therefore, he must adhere to his perseverance of the saints theory.

No Calvinist can be sure of his salvation because he might be predestined just to think he is saved. After all, playing little head games with people would not be wrong for Calvin’s “God” since Calvin’s “God” is glorified by sending billions of people who had no choice to Hell for eternity.

MORE CALVINISTS ON PERSEVERANCE

Calvinist pastor John Murray says:

[W]e may entertain the faith of our security in Christ only as we persevere in faith and holiness to the end.10

How much holiness? Are we talking about sinless perfection? Calvinist theologian Charles Hodge (1797-1878), in referring to evidence of being elected, said:

The only evidence of election is effectual calling, that is, the production of holiness. And the only evidence of the genuineness of this call and the certainty of our perseverance, is a patient continuance in well doing.11

Again, John Murray stated:

The perseverance of the saints reminds us very forcefully that only those who persevere to the end are truly saints.12

In the perseverance discussion, John MacArthur states that “you may be a spiritual defector who hasn’t defected yet.”13

“I WAS TERRIFIED!”

In an article titled “Assurance of Salvation,” the highly popular Calvinist teacher, the late R. C. Sproul (d. 2017) wrote:

A while back I had one of those moments . . . suddenly the question hit me: “R. C., what if you are not one of the redeemed? What if your destiny is not heaven after all, but hell?” Let me tell you that I was flooded in my body with a chill that went from my head to the bottom of my spine. I was terrified.14

There is not a person in the world who believes what John Calvin taught who should not be terrified concerning the reality of his salvation.

Sproul continued:

I began to take stock of my life, and I looked at my performance. My sins came pouring into my mind, and the more I looked at myself the worse I felt. I thought, “Maybe it’s really true. Maybe I’m not saved after all.” . . . Then I remembered John 6:68. Jesus had been giving out hard teaching, and many of His former followers had left Him. When He asked Peter if he was also going to leave, Peter said, “Where else can we go? Only You have words of eternal life.” In other words, Peter was also uncomfortable, but he realized that being uncomfortable with Jesus was better than any other option.15

Uncomfortable with Jesus? This doesn’t line up with Scripture that promises peace with God and eternal life to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His sacrifice on the Cross as a penalty for their sins. Consider these passages:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. (1 John 2:25)

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

A. W. Pink’s “solution” for supporting Calvinism is to change the meaning of words to support his theory; Sproul’s “option” is to be “uncomfortable with Jesus,” which he considered “better than any other option.” It is very difficult to understand why any Christian with a basic understanding of the Scriptures would accept another gospel that is not only heretical and very dangerous but strips a believer of the assurance and peace that the Scriptures promise to “whosoever will.”

Endnotes:

1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981 edition), p. 978.
2. John Calvin, Calvin’s Calvinism: God’s Eternal Predestination and Secret Providence (Reformed Free Publishing Association, Kindle edition from the 2009 2nd edition), Kindle location 532.
3. John Calvin, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1960), p. 197.
4. A.W. Pink, Practical Christianity (Zeeland, MI: Reformed Church Publications, 2009), p. 16.
5. A. W. Pink in December 1947, cited in Iain H. Murray’s The Life of Arthur W. Pink (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1981 edition), pp. 248-249.
6. John Otis, “Who is the Genuine Christian?” (The Counsel of Chalcedon, 1988), p. 20; article on file with publisher.
7. A. W. Pink, The Doctrine of Sanctification (Prisbrary Publishing, Kindle edition, Arthur Pink Collection Book 16), Kindle location 374, citing Puritan Walter Marshall, 1692. This book is also available on Amazon in a print edition published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, July 9, 2016, and the quote is found on page 27.
8. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2015 edition), p. 164.
   Chapter 8: No Assurance of Salvation
9. Norman F. Douty, The Death of Christ (Irving, TX: Williams & Watrous Pub. Co., Revised and Enlarged Edition, 1978), p. 176, citing John Calvin from F. F. Bruce’s “Answers and Questions,” Questions 1331, in The Harvester (Exeter) January 1966.
10. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2015 edition).
11. Charles Hodge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing, 1983 edition), p. 292.
12. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, op. cit., p. 165.
13. Philip F. Congdon, “Soteriological Implications of Five-Point Calvinism” (Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Autumn 1995, Volume 8 | No. 15, https://faithalone.org/wp-content/uploads/1995/09/Journal-of-the-Grace-Evangelical-Society-Vol.8-Autumn-1995-No.15small.pdf), p. 63.
14. R. C. Sproul, “Assurance of Salvation” (Tabletalk, Ligonier Ministries, Inc., 1989), p. 20; cited in Dave Hunt’s book, What Love Is This?, op. cit., from chapter 29, endnote #25.
15. Ibid.

(photo from Calvinism: None Dare Call it Heresy; designed from photo from Alamy.com; used with permission)

Bob Kirkland’s new autobiography, My Adventure in Christian Living, was released by Lighthouse Trails in 2023.

May 1944—Newly arrived Jews from Subcarpathian Rus get off the train in Auschwitz-Birkenau. (Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; used with permission.)

By Tony Pearce
Light for the Last Days

During the 1970s, Nikki and I used to go and talk to people involved in left-wing political groups about our faith. We made friends with some Jewish socialists who invited us along to a meeting of Young Mapam, a socialist Zionist group. The speaker was a man called Hyam Maccoby who gave a talk on Jesus as a Jewish revolutionary leader against the Romans. We pitched into the discussion afterwards, and some members of the group then invited us along to another meeting where they were going to read pieces of literature which meant something to them.

One of the readings was from a book by Elie Wiesel called Night about his experiences in Auschwitz. After the reading, someone asked us, “Where was God when the six million were killed?” I really did not know what to say, and so I went away to read Night for myself and think through the issues involved.

My first reaction after reading Night was, “How can I who was born when these events were already history, who has no trace of Jewish blood in my veins, presume to write about an experience so terrible, so far removed from my own experience of life and so painful to the Jewish people?” The answer which came to me was clear: “If you have no answer to the questions raised by this book, how can you claim that Jesus is the answer?”

The most eloquent statement of this despair is to be found in Night when the author, as a child, views Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz, for the first time:

Flames were leaping from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load—little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it—saw it with my own eyes . . . those little children in the flames. (Is it surprising that I could not sleep after that? Sleep had fled from my eyes).

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. . . . Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget those things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.1

So where was God? When such appalling evils take place, is it still possible to believe in the concept of a just God, of a God who loves and cares about humanity? Facing this question is more than just an academic exercise. Cruel dictatorships, concentration camps, torture, and utter wickedness still hold sway in many parts of the Earth, and the Bible warns that in the last days evil men will grow worse and worse and that the whole world will ultimately come under the power of the Antichrist of whom Hitler was a major forerunner.

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?

The first question which must be asked is, “Who was responsible for creating the death camps and the Nazi terror—God or man?” In Night, Elie Wiesel describes the pious Jews in the camp holding services to worship God on Jewish holy days. This caused him to rage against God for allowing these death camps to exist. (As a point of information, the view expressed here represents Elie Wiesel’s reaction as a child to the horrors he was witnessing. Later as an adult, he maintained his belief in God.*):

Thousands of voices repeated the benediction; thousands of men prostrated themselves like trees before a tempest.

Blessed be the name of the Eternal!

Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death?2

This is a very understandable reaction to the enormous suffering of the camps. God is supposed to be in control of the universe; one finds oneself the victim of unbelievable wickedness and cruelty. God appears to be doing nothing about it; therefore, God must be responsible for the evil or just indifferent and powerless.

However, God did not create Auschwitz or any factories of death. People did, people who were motivated by Nazism, an ideology which expressed in its ideas and practice a rebellion against God on a hitherto unknown scale in human history. God did not create Auschwitz; He created human beings perfect, to live in peace and harmony with God and each other. However, since the Fall (Genesis 3), sin has reigned over the human race, and the hostile power of Satan has influenced humanity to rebel against God and disobey His commandments. We have come a long way from Cain taking Abel into the field to murder him to the concentration camps and the frightful weapons of destruction of our time. Nevertheless, the principle remains the same, and the problem remains the same—sin in the heart of human beings. As the Bible says:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:21-23)

For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. . . . Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known. (Romans 3:9-12, 15-17)

Twentieth-century history testifies absolutely to this analysis of the human condition. It is significant that such an extreme manifestation of the evil in the human heart took place in a century which began with many people putting their trust in the innate goodness of humanity, the perfectibility of human nature, and the coming of a Golden Age of peace, prosperity, and tolerance through advances in science, education, and politics. What is more, it took place in a country whose contribution to European culture was enormous and which had produced some of the leading 19th century writers and philosophers, many of whom rejected God and placed their trust in man’s ability to save himself through his own efforts. If anything, the Nazi Holocaust should make us lose faith in this kind of optimistic humanism rather than the God of the Bible. This is the implication of the foreword to Night in which the French writer, Francois Mauriac writes about trainloads of Jewish children he saw being taken away from Paris during the Nazi occupation:

The dream which western man conceived in the 18th century, whose dawn he thought he saw in 1789 [the French Revolution], and which until August 2nd 1914 [the outbreak of the first world war], had grown stronger with the progress of enlightenment and the discoveries of science—this dream finally vanished from me before those trainloads of little children.3

 THE NAZIS AND GOD

Those who blame God for the Nazi Holocaust should note that the roots of the Nazi ideology lay in a definite rejection, indeed a bitter hatred of not just Judaism, but the God of the Bible and authentic Christianity. In this connection, it is interesting to note the following thoughts written by Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher who first proclaimed that “God is dead.”

That the strong races of Northern Europe have not repudiated the Christian God certainly reflects no credit on their talent for religion.4

[Speaking of the Christian concept of God] [T]he God of the “great majority,” the democrat among Gods [N.B. Nietzsche loathed democracy], has none the less not become a proud pagan God . . . he has remained the god of the nook, the God of all dark corners and places, of all the unhealthy quarters throughout the world!5

What is good?—All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad?—All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness?—The feeling that power increases—that resistance is overcome. Not contentment, but more power; not peace at all, but war; not virtue, but proficiency. . . . The weak and ill-constituted shall perish: first principle of our philanthropy. And one shall help them to do so. What is more harmful than any vice?—Active sympathy for the weak and ill-constituted: Christianity.6

Christianity is called the religion of pity.—Pity stands in the antithesis to the tonic emotions which enhance the energy of the feeling of life: it has a depressive effect. . . . Pity on the whole thwarts the law of evolution, which is the law of selection. It preserves what is ripe for destruction; it defends life’s disinherited and condemned.7

This philosophy of 19th century German atheism clearly has a spiritual link to Nazi ideology. One wonders what Nietzsche would have thought of the strong, powerful, pitiless ones, the SS, “selecting” the fittest specimens as they ran past them naked—the strong to be worked to death in concentration camps, the weak and “ill-constituted” to be taken away to the gas chambers. What does the modern world need, hard, pitiless anti-Christian men and women, or those who will follow the One that Nietzsche despises so much who said?:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. . . . Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:3, 5, 7, 9)

There is no doubt what kind of people Hitler wanted. He said “Antiquity was better than modern times because it did not know Christianity and syphilis.” His main reasons for rejecting Christianity were as follows:

1. It was a religion that sided with everything weak and low.
2. It was purely Jewish and Oriental in origin. Christians “bend their backs to the sound of church bells and crawl to the cross of a foreign God.”
3. The religion began 2000 years ago among sick, exhausted, and despairing men who had lost their belief in life.
4. Christian ideas of “forgiveness of sin,” “resurrection,” and “salvation” were just nonsense.
5. The Christian idea of mercy was dangerous. One must never extend mercy to his enemies. “Mercy is an un-German conception.”
6. Christian “love” was silly; love paralyzes.
7. The Christian idea of equality of all human beings meant that the inferior, the ill, the crippled, the criminal, and the weak were protected.8

The Nazis may have marched into battle with “Gott mit uns” (God with us) as their motto, but their god was a pagan antichrist god, and they followed a false messiah, Adolf Hitler, and bowed down before idols of power, physical force, and the dream of world domination by the Teutonic Master Race. Is it surprising that the fruit of this demonic ideology was the nightmare of destruction and slaughter which followed in their wake?

They may also have professed some sort of Christianity, but their aim was to replace authentic Christianity with a program for a “new” Christianity, which consisted of:

• Throw out the Old Testament—it is a Jewish book. Also throw out parts of the New Testament.
• Christ must be regarded not as Jewish, but as a Nordic martyr put to death by the Jews, a kind of warrior who by His death saved the world from Jewish domination.
• Adolph Hitler is the new Messiah sent to earth to rescue the world from the Jews.
• The swastika succeeds the cross as the symbol of German Christianity.
• German land, German blood, German soul, German art—these four must become the most sacred things of all to the German Christian.9

In effect, the Nazis were replacing Christianity with a new paganism which drew its strength from Wagner’s music and the Nordic myths of pre-Christian times. One of the prime movers in this direction was Alfred Rosenburg to whom Hitler awarded the National Prize, Germany’s version of the Nobel Prize, in 1937. Rosenburg wanted a return to the old Teutonic religion of fire and sword. There was even a hymn for the new German Faith Movement:

 The time of the Cross has gone now,

 The Sunwheel shall arise,

 And so, with God, we shall be free at last

 And give our people their honor back.10

SO WHERE WAS GOD?

A Jewish novel, The Last of the Just by André Schwartz-Bart, traces Jewish suffering through many generations and concludes in the time of the Holocaust. There is a very moving scene when a crowd of worshipping Jews leaves a synagogue and is confronted by Nazi troops in the courtyard:

Ernie had a staggering intuition—that God was hovering above the synagogue courtyard, vigilant and ready to intervene. . . . Ernie felt that God was there, so close that with a little boldness he might have touched him. “Stop! Don’t touch my people!” he murmured as if the divine voice had found expression in his own frail throat.11

In the novel, there is a momentary deliverance on that occasion; however, the terrible cycle of death and destruction brought about by the Nazis continued with the massacre of six million Jews and the deaths of millions of Gentiles on the battlefronts and in the concentration camps. Was God silent and indifferent while all this was going on?

God was neither silent nor indifferent, but He was watching and weeping over the wickedness of humanity and the suffering of the people, especially the Jewish people. However, because He has given us free will, the consequence of the wrong choice made by the German people was played out in the events which followed. The final defeat of the Nazis showed God’s ultimate judgment on that wicked political system.

While God was not silent or indifferent, unfortunately much of the church was. There were indeed brave souls, like the ten Boom family in Holland who sacrificed themselves to rescue Jews from the Nazis. But for the most part, the church failed to speak out, and not surprisingly many Jewish people saw “Christians” as the enemy. In the novel The Last of the Just, Ernie Levy, the lead character, marries Golda the night before they are to be taken away to a concentration camp. Their conversation turns to Jesus:

“Oh Ernie,” Golda said, “you know them. Tell me why do the Christians hate us the way they do? They seem so nice when I can look at them without my star.

Ernie put his arm round her shoulder solemnly. “It’s very mysterious,” he murmured in Yiddish. “They don’t exactly know why themselves. I’ve been in their churches and I’ve read their gospel. Do you know who the Christ was? A simple Jew like your father. A kind of Hassid.

Golda smiled gently. “You’re kidding me.”

No, no believe me, and I’ll bet they’d have got along fine, the two of them, because he was really a good Jew, you know sort of like the Baal Shem Tov12—a merciful man, and gentle. The Christians say they love him, but I think they hate him without knowing it. So they take the cross by the other end and make a sword out of it and strike us with it! You understand Golda,” he cried out suddenly strangely excited, “they take the cross and they turn it around, they turn it around, my God. . . .”13

Jesus was much more than “a simple Jew,” but the fact that He was a Jew is one which is totally obvious from the New Testament. Those who call themselves Christians and yet hate the Jews need to repent of anti-Semitism and determine to stand by Jewish people when they suffer persecution, recognizing that the root of anti-Semitism is human hostility to God. Rabbi David Panitz has pointed out in this connection that “the need for atonement through admission of the facts of history is an established Hebraic and Christian doctrine. Until you admit you have been wrong, you cannot begin a reconstruction of your life.”

The professing Christian church has an enormous burden of guilt in relation to the Jewish people. Although Nazi philosophy was pagan and anti-Christian, the seeds of anti-Semitism reaped by the Nazis were sown by the churches in their denunciations of the Jews. At the same time, we have to say that the real Jesus is entirely different from the cruel caricature who takes the cross to beat the Jewish people with. In Ernie Levy’s conversation with Golda, he goes on to say:

Poor Jesus, if he came back to the earth and saw that the pagans had made a sword out of him and used it against his sisters and brothers, he’d be sad, he’d grieve forever. And maybe he does see it.14

This article is an extract from Tony Pearce’s book, The Messiah Factor (a book every Christian should read and share with their Jewish friends).

*Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2, 2016 at the age of 87.

Endnotes:

1. Elie Wiesel, Night (New York, NY: Bantam books, 1982 edition), pp. 30-32.
2. Ibid., p. 64.
3. Elie Wiesel, Night (Hill and Wang, 1959, First Edition), Foreword, pp. 7-8.
4. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1990 Penguin edition which includes both Twilight of Idols and Anti-Christ; 2003 printing; Kindle version), p. 140.
5. Ibid., p. .140.
6. Ibid., p. 127.
7. Ibid., p. 130.
8. Louis L. Snyder, Hitler and Nazism (New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Bantam Edition, 1967), p. 87.
9. Ibid., p. 90.
10. Ibid., p. 91.
11. André Schwartz-Bart, The Last of the Just (New York, NY: The Overlook Press, U.S.A. Edition, 2000; first published in 1960), pp. 157, 159.
12. Baal Shem Tov—”Master of the Good Name,” the title given to Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), the founder of the Hasidim movement.
13. Andre Schwartz-Bart, The Last of the Just, op. cit., p. 213.
14. Ibid., p. 213.

By Kevin Reeves

History is filled with stories of those who have stood for truth, many of whom gave their lives to defend the faith God had put in their hearts. History is also filled with those who tried to squelch that truth. In his riveting account of the Nazi empire, historian William L. Shirer meticulously documents the internal workings of a system that once threatened to take over the world. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a chilling account of the effects of mind-numbing propaganda.1 The endless barrage of misinformation, incredibly, molded a once-beaten and fragmented people into the icon of elitism, which culminated in grisly death camps and the cold-blooded murder of those deemed lesser humans. A firsthand witness and opponent of the Nazi regime, Shirer recounted instances of conversation with German people, when he dared contradict the ludicrous governmental and media declarations of ethnic, cultural, and military superiority. He was met with shocked silence or an amazed stare. He noted that to question the Nazi machine’s view of anything was considered blasphemy of the highest order. It dawned on him that the minds of many of the people had become so warped that they were no longer able to think for themselves or evaluate anything by a higher standard. Shirer observed that with the rise of the new German empire, the truth had become whatever Hitler and Goebbels said it was; they were the final arbiters of reality— spiritual and otherwise.

Some may think it is extreme to compare the spiritual deception and control tactics within the church today to that of the Nazi regime and the death camps, but we should remember that the church in Germany in the 1930s was very much like the church is today—having a head in the sand mentality about spiritual deception and turning religious leaders into super-human heroes who can do no wrong. Perhaps we are not all that different than Christians in Germany back then. We should not fool ourselves and think we would never be duped like that. The apostle Paul issued a warning to Christians:

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (I Corinthians 10:11-12)

Despite all this, there is hope in the Lord; He is “Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11). And He promised to preserve His church, that true body of believers whom He calls the Bride of Christ. Praise His name—there is hope. When truth is challenged, mocked, and thrown against the wind, we can be sure, it will never be altered. And that Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

The Lord is calling His people out from the midst of the false, to adhere to His truth, no matter what the cost. Let us respond with joy and thankfulness, knowing His grace is sufficient to strengthen us and give us courage.

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (Hebrews 13:13-14)

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(photo image from istockphoto.com; used with permission)

By Ray Yungen

Most people understand there’s been a number of revolutions over the past forty years or so, beginning in the ’60s. For instance, there’s been the sexual revolution, the feminist revolution, and what you might call the drug revolution. These were social movements that changed and altered society to a significant degree. Before this time period, people more or less stayed with convention. They more or less conformed to society’s expectations and codes of behavior. There were technical revolutions and philosophical revolutions in the past, but the revolutions we have had since the 1960s have turned society in a totally new direction.

What many people don’t comprehend (or may understand in a vague or limited way) is that there has also been a mystical revolution. This revolution has impacted every major area of society, without exception. This is not a conspiracy theory. We are not talking about assertions of which we expect you to take our word. What we present here can be proven. In this booklet, you will see how the dots are connected.

A number of credible authors and scholars have documented this mystical revolution, three to which I would like to draw your attention. The first is Dr. James A. Herrick, a retired professor from Hope College and the author of The Making of the New Spirituality. In his book, Herrick says that the “Revealed Word” tradition (basically that which embraces the fundamental beliefs of Christianity) is being slowly dismantled in society and replaced by the New Age spirituality. His book is probably the most in-depth and scholarly I have yet seen. Herrick states:

[T]he past three centuries have witnessed a stunning shift in Western religious thinking away from the tenets [of Christianity]. . . . a new set of religious commitments has now replaced the fundamental claims of the Revealed Word.1

Herrick calls this replacement the “New Religious Synthesis,” which incorporates “the spiritualization of science” (i.e., quantum spirituality), panentheism (God in all things), occultic practices, “spiritual evolution” (man becoming Divine), and interspirituality (all paths lead to God) through mysticism.

Another figure who has recognized this mystical revolution is Robert C. Fuller, Professor of Religious Studies at Bradley University. According to Fuller’s book, Spiritual But Not Religious, huge numbers of Americans have embraced what he refers to as “unchurched” spirituality, which is in effect, New Age spirituality. Fuller says that millions of Americans no longer identify with the traditional religious denominations but now say they are “spiritual but not religious,” which is an unstructured mystical spirituality that is at the very heart of what I call the mystical revolution.2

A third author who has identified this mystical revolution is New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. In his 2012 book, Bad Religion, he states:

America’s problem isn’t too much religion, or too little of it. It’s bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of a variety of destructive pseudo-Christianities in its place.3

To back up the conclusions of Herrick, Fuller, and Douthat, according to a survey done by Baylor University, nearly 25 percent of the American population now view God as a “cosmic force” rather than a personal being.4

All this indicates that something unprecedented is taking place. Traditionally and overall, people in the Western world have seen God as our Father who art in heaven. God has been an individual and a personal being with all that this entails.

For those who might be skeptical about just how widespread this mystical paradigm shift is, consider some of the country’s major bookstore outlets. Amazon has around 280,000 titles that deal with New Age/New Spirituality subjects. When Borders was still in business, their metaphysical section in some stores was up to 64 shelves. Going by the law of the market (i.e., supply and demand), this means enormous numbers of people are interested.

What is Mysticism?
Readers who are not familiar with this subject may be asking, what exactly is mysticism? Simply put, this is merely the practice of one stopping the normal flow of thought by focusing on the breath or a repeated sound (such as repeating a word or phrase for twenty minutes) or a continuous drum beat. This is meant to propel an individual into a state called the silence, which makes him or her susceptible to communing with unseen realities they perceive to be supernatural in nature.

The mystical revolution is basically comprised of large numbers of people learning techniques that provide mystical experiences. This is at the heart of what is called the Age of Aquarius, where all humanity is linked in a mystical manner to one other and an ultimate authority figure, both seen and unseen.

This revolution actually started about the same time as the drug revolution in the 1960s when millions of teenagers and young adults started using marijuana and LSD. Psychedelic drug use became a widespread social movement, which is reflected by the fact that many of the songs at that time had reference to drugs and psychedelic themes.

Psychedelic drug use opened the door to interest in eastern religion—specifically Hindu and Buddhist meditation. The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had a reference to this in the song, “Within You, Without You.” One of the lines in the song is “it’s all within you.” In other words, everything you need is already contained in you (i.e., your higher self), which is one of the tenets of mysticism. Even the famous Woodstock Music Festival was advertised as an Aquarian exposition. The word Aquarian is a term for the Age of Aquarius, which is the view that we’re moving out of the Piscean age into the Aquarian age. In this Aquarian Age, there will be a certain spiritual keynote or spiritual perception among a critical mass of humanity. This was made apparent when Swami Satchidananda opened Woodstock with a lecture given to half a million young people in the audience (you can actually see this if you rent the movie Woodstock).

After Satchidananda’s Woodstock “benediction,” things unfolded quickly. Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) became widely popular due to its founder Maharishi being on the Merv Griffin Show, a popular talk show of that time. Merv Griffin was actually a T.M. practitioner himself and even acknowledged it on the show.

Other gurus surfaced as well. Swami Muktananda was also extremely well received in the ’70s and would travel around touching people in the middle of the forehead with a peacock feather activating their third eye. They would then have mystical experiences. He reached literally hundreds of thousands with his message.

This advent of mysticism was becoming very apparent in our culture. Terms like mantra, karma, and high consciousness were being used. This was somewhat of a novelty—people were hearing about things they never thought about before.

As we moved into the 1980s, popular actress Shirley MacLaine became associated with these practices because she was converted to this view. She wrote about it in both of her autobiographies, Out on a Limb and Dancing in the Light. Each one of these books sold millions of copies and successfully introduced occultic concepts such as channeling to countless people who were not yet familiar with such practices. These were not the hippies or the counter-culture types but were everyday folks: teachers, blue-collar workers, business men and women, and such. This, in turn, generated a lot of interest from the average person in the Western world. It was the 1980s when the New Age became quite a phenomenon.

The Christian Response
In 1983, a Christian attorney from Detroit, Constance Cumbey, wrote a book titled The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow after she accidentally stumbled upon the New Age. Cumbey was basically the first person within the evangelical church to expose the New Age as a movement. There had been many books on cults, like Kingdom of the Cults or Guidebook for Cults. But Cumbey’s book focused on individuals working within various organizations, who rather than drawing people away to cults, attempted to turn the organizations themselves into spiritual organizations that reflected the new paradigm. The book that alarmed Cumbey was the book by Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy (an influential New Age manifesto at the time), which described people who had become aware of these other dimensions and were working to become “Aquarian conspirators” (as Ferguson called them) and bring everyone else into this mystical body. They were the pioneers or the avant-garde in this new wave of consciousness.

But then the term New Age became a worn-out buzzword. The people who promoted New Age beliefs stopped using the term. As a result of this tactic, Christian concerns died out, and people saw the New Age movement as a kind of fad that was fast disappearing. I’ve always wondered about books, such as Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness (immensely popular during that period), as to whether they had something to do with this dismissal of the New Age as a fictional fantasy and perhaps nothing more than a silly craze. It seems the initial alarm dissipated because people perceived the mystical revolution as non-relevant. A trip to your local or online Christian bookstore today will illustrate this point. In the section that deals with cults or apologetics, you will find books dealing with Mormonism, atheism, Islam, and so forth, but you will find almost nothing on the mystical revolution even though it has actually exploded and become embraced by a wide segment of the population.

Momentum Increases
In 1986, something very significant happened that helped turn unknown New Age writers into world-famous household names—the Oprah Winfrey Show began. Oprah had read a book by Unity minister Eric Butterworth and converted to the New Age mystical paradigm. Then in the ’90s, she dedicated her show to the New Age concepts of higher consciousness. In 1992, Oprah invited a woman named Marianne Williamson on her show. Williamson had written a book titled Return to Love, which was based on the channeled manual A Course in Miracles. To help launch Williamson’s message, Oprah gave away 10,000 copies of A Return to Love, resulting in 70,000 copies of the book selling within the first week after the show. Needless to say, Oprah was very excited about this book.

Oprah soon had a who’s who parade of New Age authors on her show. She highlighted a series of authors, most of whom went on to sell millions of books. She had Sarah Ban Breathnach, the author of Simple Abundance, and Iyanla Vanzant. And then, Oprah had one of the individuals I would consider the most indicative of this movement—Gary Zukav. Because of his regular appearances on the Oprah Show, his book, The Seat of the Soul, was at the top of the New York Times best-seller list 31 times and remained on the New York Times best-seller list for three years. Needless to say, it has sold millions of copies.

Zukav’s book was not the kind of book most people normally would have bought; it could be likened to a scholarly textbook, rather than the kind of book that would appeal to the masses.

There were many others also reaching the broad public. And by public, I mean this in the truest sense of the word. Public television began to advocate the New Age perspective. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, John Bradshaw was appearing on public television on a show called “Bradshaw on the Family.” Bradshaw had been trained in Hindu meditation by Dennis Weaver, the actor who played Chester on the 1960s television Gunsmoke. Bradshaw then passed on this knowledge to his viewers and readers, talking about meditation and the higher self. (Higher self is a term meaning the inner divinity or the god within every person.)

Deepak Chopra, an East Indian-American doctor, was another figure on public television quite often. Chopra promoted holistic health. But the most prominent and effective figure on public television, who was on for twelve years during pledge drives, is author Wayne Dyer. One could legitimately call him the Billy Graham of New Age spirituality. He had a deep booming voice and a commanding presence, which gave him an air of authority. But his message could best be summed up in one of his numerous books titled Your Sacred Self. Again, his message was always in the vein of mysticism—that if one did meditation one would achieve connection with the higher self. Like Bradshaw, Dyer reached millions of people through this venue. He literally personified the mystical revolution. In all, he has sold around 50 million books. He died in August of 2015 at the age of 75, but his books and teachings will live on.

Dr. Dyer’s publisher was Hay House, a publishing company started by a woman named Louise Hay who wrote a book called You Can Heal Your Life that sold 40 million copies. Hay became so wealthy that she was able to start her own publishing company. Today, Hay House is one of the largest New Age publishing companies.

The logo for Hay House is “look within.” In other words, everything you need is right inside of you. This is in line with the lyrics of “Within You, Without You,” the song by George Harrison of The Beatles—“it’s all within you.” As I stated earlier, these words are the theme of what New Age spirituality entails. In the Age of Aquarius, the message is when man “realizes” his own divinity, everyone will find “God” within themselves.

One could say, “Well, to each his own. We live in a pluralistic society. If people want to believe this stuff, they can. It may sound flaky or somewhat offbeat or eccentric, but I don’t care if other people believe this stuff. It won’t affect me at all. I’ll follow Jesus, and I’ll be a good Christian. There’ll still be plenty of good Christians around. Just because there’s this flaky religion out there doesn’t mean I should get excited about it.”

But here is what needs to be considered: when you look behind the curtain, you see things extremely disturbing. For instance, in the acknowledgments of popular author Iyanla Vanzant’s book, In the Meantime, she thanks her spirit guides, giving them each names. This is true of practically every major author in this movement. And then, there is Gary Zukav. The main theme of his books is that we need to turn our lives over to our non-physical guides (spirits) and teachers. Sarah Ben Breathnach was involved with Wicca and also had non-physical guides and teachers. In her book, Simple Abundance, she says spells cast on Halloween are more powerful than any other night in the year. That book sold five million copies.

Even the highly regarded and influential Wayne Dyer expressed his love and devotion to a group of non-physical entities who called themselves “Abraham” in a book for which he wrote the foreword.5

I could give numerous other examples than the ones just mentioned, but that would be redundant. This is not the exception; this is the rule. Perhaps the most noteworthy would be that of Louise Hay, founder of Hay House Publishers. Hay has a particular devotion to one of the non-physical guides and teachers whom Gary Zukav talks about, a spirit guide named Seth. Channeler Jane Roberts has authored several “Seth books.” Of those books, Hay states:

I would like to see the Seth books as required reading for anyone on their spiritual pathway. The amazing in-depth information in the Seth books is as relevant today as it was in the early 70s when Jane Roberts first channeled this material.6

This is sobering considering that practically every third or fourth book in the self-help section of most bookstores is published by Hay House.

Europe Gets on Board
In 2014, I traveled to Europe, specifically England, Ireland, and Germany for a number of speaking engagements. I was shocked to see the level of New Age acceptance in these countries. I didn’t get a real sense of how big this was until I went to a number of bookstores. In Dublin, Ireland at the city’s largest bookstore, there were 80 shelves devoted to mind, body, spirit (the “non-threatening” term for New Age spirituality). Traveling around Ireland, I found that New Age spirituality was the prominent spiritual expression even in little villages scattered around the countryside. I was expecting to find lots of books on Catholicism; instead, I found many books by the likes of Neale Donald Walsch, a New Age channeler.

Dusseldorf, Germany’s major bookstore absolutely reflected the mystical revolution I am trying to describe. Eighty-eight shelves were devoted to these subjects, which they called zie esoterik (German word for occult). It was then I was introduced to the German word for spirit guide, geist fürer.

Finally, in Birmingham, England (the second largest city in England), the largest bookstore in the center of town had a whopping 100 shelves devoted to the New Age compared to only twelve shelves devoted to Christianity. And in that small “Christian” section, many of the titles reflected the New Age view rather than the Christian.

This coincides with my experience in Germany, because right at the time I was there, I read an article that came out, which stated that Germans spend 25 billion euros a year on New Age activities and things related to the New Age. Twenty-five billion! The article said that New Age practices have become integrated into everyday life in Germany. Integrated and very common.

I had further evidence of that when I was in a large retail outlet in Germany called Hercules (the equivalent of the U.S. outlet, Walmart). The store’s large magazine section contained a sizeable number of New Age magazines, indicating the public was interested in these subjects.

In a 2013 trip to Europe, I saw the same level of interest in France. In one large bookstore, a small religion section was mostly Catholic, with a much larger section representing the entire panoply of New Age thought and practice.

All this shouldn’t be much of a surprise because the most popular spiritual author in Europe, Anselm Grün, has a strong New Age bent. Grün, a German Benedictine monk, promotes contact with spirit guides, getting in touch with “your angels,” and Buddhist-type meditation. Grün has written over 300 titles, which have sold over 14 million copies.

Clearly, from my own observation and from talking to people who live there, the mystical revolution is considerably more advanced in Europe than the U.S., although as time goes on, the gap is narrowing.

In addition to Europe, America’s neighbor to the north, Canada, has also heavily embraced this mystical revolution to roughly the same degree. In one national chain bookstore in the suburbs of Vancouver, BC, the number of shelves devoted to New Age spirituality has more than doubled in just a few years from twenty to forty-five.

Planetary Spirituality
Many people, including numerous Christians, see the New Age as more of a nuisance to Christianity than a serious threat. But according to New Age pundit David Spangler, this mystical revolution is actually the rise of what he refers to as a “planetary spirituality,”7 one that the entire human race buys into, one that transcends all the world’s religious dogmas and puts forth the idea that all human beings are divine.

This philosophy also carries another dimension as explained in Spangler’s book, Emergence: Rebirth of the Sacred where he explains how he came about connecting to “invisible, spiritual beings,”8 specifically one who called himself “John” (for the sake of convenience). Spangler said that during periods of meditation, he felt his own “inner being and [this spirit guide] uniting in a very deep way.”9 Spangler’s description of his relationship with “John” is most revealing:

I felt strongly that someone had walked into the room. This person’s presence was overwhelming. . . . In my inner work to that time, I had occasionally been aware of and made contact with invisible, spiritual beings. Such phenomena came with the territory [meditation]. . . I had never before felt such a strong and immediate presence.

I shared this perception with Myrtle [his friend], and . . . we agreed to sit in meditation to attempt a contact with this being. . . . I felt my inner being and his uniting in a very deep way. . . .

Thus began a relationship with a spiritual being that continues to this day.10

Spangler believes this relationship with his spirit guide has given him skills “at working with the inner dimensions of spirit”11 and that “John” has a specific purpose in connecting with Spangler:

Over the years it has been evident that John’s main interest is the emergence of a new age and a new culture, and he identifies himself as one of those on the spiritual side of life whose work is specifically to empower that emergence.12

Everyone I have profiled in this booklet, from Oprah to Wayne Dyer to John Bradshaw plus countless others have all been working to bring about this “new culture”—and they appear to have succeeded. What is taking place is far more widespread throughout the Western world than most people realize. Even the giant retail outlet Costco recognizes this reality. In their magazine, the Costco Connection, they relate this in an article titled, “Mindful Matters: Meditation as Medicine,” stating:

It’s been around for centuries and is integral to the practice of Buddhism, yet, until recently, meditation was often regarded as some strange, New Age-y, Eastern mind-body thing. No more.13

Meditation, the basic activity that underlies all metaphysics, is the primary source of spiritual direction for those in the New Age. We need only observe the emphasis that is placed on meditation to see the significance of its role in New Age thought:

Meditation is the doorway between worlds . . . the pathway between dimensions.14

Meditation is the key—the indispensable key—to the highest states of awareness.15

Meditation is a key ingredient to metaphysics, as it is the single most important act in a metaphysician’s life.16

When we examine the heart of this mystical revolution, we find there’s a source of authority, so to speak. There’s some thing, some entities running this. It’s not the authors themselves but the force behind them that is in charge. And the power or force behind all these authors despises the Gospel and hates Christianity. We must conclude that the New Age movement does not have any real leaders, only followers. I heard one writer/channeler put it very plainly when he revealed:
Everyone anywhere who tunes into the Higher Self becomes part of the transformation. Their lives then become orchestrated from other realms.17

Please remember these following two Bible verses as you consider what you have just read:

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:31)

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1)

To order copies of The Mystical Revolution: How Millions of People Have Been Introduced to the Aquarian Age in booklet format, click here.

Endnotes:
1. James Herrick, The Making of the New Spirituality (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), p. 21.
2. Robert C. Fuller, Spiritual But Not Religious (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001).
3. Ross Douthat, Bad Religion (New York, NY: Free Press, 2012), p.3.
4. American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US (Baylor University survey, 2006, http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf), p. 29.
5. Esther and Jerry Hicks, Ask and It Shall Be Given (the teachings of Abraham) (Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2004), foreword by Wayne Dyer.
6. Louise Hay review of A Seth Book: The Early Sessions, Book 1: http://www.amazon.com/The-Early-Sessions-Book-Material-ebook/dp/B00BA1YXRO.
7. David Spangler, Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred (New York, NY: Del Publishing, 1984), p. 112.
8. Ibid., p. 65.
9. Ibid., p. 66.
10. Ibid., pp. 65-66.
11. Ibid. p. 66.
12. Ibid., p. 67.
13. Sally Abrahms, “Mindful Matters: Meditation as Medicine (Costco Connection, July 2014, Vol. 29, No. 7), p. 35.
14. Celeste G. Graham, The Layman’s Guide to Enlightenment (Phoenix, AZ: Illumination Pub., 1980), p. 13.
15. Ananda’s Expanding Light, Program Guide (The Expanding Light retreat center, California, April-December 1991), p. 5.
16. The College of Metaphysical Studies website, “Frequently Asked Questions About Metaphysics, Spirituality and Shamanism” (http://www.cms.edu/faq.html).
17. Talk by Ken Carey at Whole Life Expo (Los Angeles: February, 1987).

To order copies of The Mystical Revolution: How Millions of People Have Been Introduced to the Aquarian Age in booklet format, click here.

To Lighthouse Trails:

As many did, I bought the Season 1 DVD of The Chosen and watched it with great anticipation. By the time I reached the end of Season 1, I had an uneasy feeling in my spirit. I couldn’t put my finger on why but I had no desire to watch the 2nd season.  My sister, a strong believer, told me when she thinks of Christ now, she “sees” the actor who portrays Him in The Chosen.  That was a HUGE red flag to me. A short time later, I sent her a very good article—it could have been one from Lighthouse Trails—and I reminded her of her statement. Praise God, my sister’s eyes were opened, and she never watched another episode.  

Thank you for your gift of discernment and your courage to go against the grain. I believe The Chosen series is a cleverly packaged, deceitful attempt to strip Christ of His deity in people’s minds and to relegate Him to the position of a nice, charismatic guy with some good teachings and funny friends.  In my mind, that’s heresy at its worst and should be avoided by any true follower of Christ Jesus, our Messiah and God.  As he was in the Garden of Eden, Satan is subtle and effective.

God bless you and protect your ministry from Satan and his minions.  Maranatha!

Rebecca

Related Information:

The Chosen—Godly Truth or Dangerous Fiction? by Maria Kneas

The Chosen: “Get Used to Different”

Booklet on the Deity of Christ by Mike Oppenheimer