Emerging Church/New Spirituality: Part 6 (History and Bride of Christ)

*    It’s anti-Christian
*    It draws on both Eastern and Western mystical spirituality
*    It believes that each religion shares a single universal truth – that the divine has manifested itself through many deities in different places and at different times

In just one generation, Judaeo-Christian Western culture has become an incubator of revived New Spirituality paganism.

In one form or another, the leaders of the New Spirituality are impacting every sphere of society – government, education, law-making, health-care, globalisation, media, business, interfaith religion, psychology, sociology, ecology, science, arts, entertainment, sports and even the church.  Indeed, the spiritual and political landscape of the world is being conditioned to accept this false spirituality that rejects Christianity.  Peter Jones in his book ‘One or Two,’ says:

Thousands of progressives in academics, the media and politics, along with liberal church leaders are joining to produce a pagan cosmology to repair our deconstructed world.

A programme of globalisation, mystical inter-spirituality, social justice and world peace is proposed as the answer to all man’s ills, which can only be achieved through the establishment of global economics, governance and a one world religion.

History and development

The following eight ‘road signs’ in the on-going development of the New Spirituality are representative of the general trend:

*    The role of the Secret Societies
*    The Perennial Philosophy and Religious Pluralism
*    The legacy of the Theosophical Society
*    Gnosticism
*    The 60’s, Postmodernism and Eastern mysticism
*    The mushrooming New Age Movement
*    The growing Interfaith Movement
*    The role of the United Nations and former world leaders

There’s considerable overlap between each, indicating a power at work behind the scenes which is 'pulling it all together.'  We suggest this is Satan in the form of the 'Jezebel spirit,' as generally understood by those involved in spiritual warfare.  We believe that all religious movements, as opposed to genuine moves of the Holy Spirit, are impacted by this particular demonic spirit.  Before we look at each of these aspects it's important that we touch on one other issue. 

Ancient wisdom handed down

All of the following draw upon ancient wisdom and the knowledge given to man by fallen angels in the days of Noah, which has been carried by occultists and secret societies, down through the ages and up to the present time.  In Genesis 6:1-4 we read:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Fallen angels had intercourse with human woman, producing giant offspring, known as Nephilim.  These were hybrid entities, that were part human and part angelic, and under Satan’s control.

Whilst it may sound exotic or bizarre, Francis Schaeffer, a theologian, philosopher and Christian thinker, has written:

More and more we are finding that mythology in general, though greatly contorted, very often has some historical basis.  And the interesting thing is that one myth that one finds over and over again in many parts of the world is that somewhere a long time ago supernatural beings had sexual intercourse with natural women and produced a special breed of people.

Secret societies

Spiritual darkness is increasing and becoming more sophisticated, but the strongholds that the enemy uses are deeply rooted in the actions of past generations.  We can’t go back too far before the influence of the secret societies becomes apparent.

The earliest recorded secret societies have roots in pre-history and reflect prehistoric fertility cults and the spirits of the dead.  They are known as 'chthonic' meaning 'under the earth' to distinguish them from the gods of ancient Greece and Rome.  Chthonic cults characteristically used arcane rituals, sacred spaces (caves) and shamanistic rituals such as ecstatic dance and psychedelia to commune with the other world.  Some of these practices were passed down to later secret societies.

There are many parallels between the ancient mysteries (Greece, Rome, Persia, Egypt and Babylon) and the secret societies.  Related to the ancient mystery cults of the Greeks was Mithraism - the worship of the god Mithras.  Originally a sun god from the Persian Pantheon, Mithras became very popular in the Roman Empire and the Mithraic religion flourished from the second century AD rivalling Christianity until the latter got the upper hand.  The Mithraic cult had many important parallels with modern secret societies such as the Freemasons.

Both the ancient mysteries and the later secret societies are idolatrous and worship Lucifer.  Manley P Hall, a 33rd degree Mason and undoubtedly the leading writer on Masonry in the 20th century, says this about each individual Mason in his book ‘Lost Keys of Freemasonry’:

The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step onwards and upwards he must prove his ability to properly apply (this) energy.

In the West, the rich variety of philosophy, religion and mysticism in the ancient world gave way to a much more uniform, monolithic arrangement in the post-Classical world, as a Christian orthodoxy took shape and the Church established itself, first as the religion of the Roman Empire and later as the unifying force of the Dark Age era.

It was in this era that the mysteries, Mithraism and Gnosticism were all suppressed and the exoteric forms of religion (those played out in the open, and publicly accessible to all) largely won out over esoteric forms - those hidden forms available to only a few.  But, as the mythologist Joseph Campbell explained in 'The Masks of God':

. . . the mysteries, like a secret stream, went underground.

Western Esoteric Tradition

The result of being driven underground was the creation of what scholars of the occult call the 'Western Esoteric Tradition.'  This is the chain of descent of mystical and magical knowledge from the Classical era down to the modern day, a span of around 1700 years.

During much of this period the Western tradition included knowledge that was considered dangerous, immoral and often illegal, so that those who followed this tradition had to be extremely careful.

Many of the best known societies today major on personal development, spiritual self-exploration, the study of mysticism and occult, and the establishment of a new world order/religion.

The more influential societies like the Freemasons, the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians are extremely influential and use legitimate power structures and leaders to implement their secret plans for a new world order/religion - Presidents, Prime Ministers, church leaders, government officials, oligarchs, bankers, etc.  These societies will continue to play a significant part in the on-going development of the New Spirituality.

Perennial Philosophy and Religious Pluralism

Many of today’s thinkers, including some within the liberal Emerging Church, have embraced the Perennial Philosophy.  This philosophical concept claims that each of the world’s religious traditions shares a single universal truth; that there exists a single divine foundation for all religious knowledge.  In other words an underground well feeds all religions irrespective of their cultural or historical context; each religion is simply a different interpretation of this knowledge.

Prince Charles believes that the Perennial Philosophy will restore the wisdom of ancient pagan religions to our spiritually starved world.  According to Dr Peter Jones in his book 'One or Two':

The worldview clash is clear - the revealed religion of the Bible against the occultist Perennial Philosophy of religious naturalism.  Biblical Two-ism clashes with esoteric spirituality, which claims both the democratic right to influence public policy and the ideological right to silence the traditional view as ‘hate speech.’

In primitive cultures, paganism has been practiced for millennia in its animist/spiritist forms.  Its more subtle but more virulent form is perhaps found in the US, where it has been spruced up and ingeniously promoted by intellectuals and civic leaders with a fully developed ideology for the global future.

Anti-Christian all-inclusive paganism

To save the planet, paganism must have full control and so it seeks to undermine Christianity.  Christianity as a social force is under attack and in decline.  Here in the West, we're no longer post-Christian, but anti-Christian and religious paganism which is basically idolatry (the worship of anything other than the true God) is rapidly filling the gap and ready to take political, social and religious power.

Pagans derive their name from those who worshipped the Gods of the 'pagus,' which means ‘locality’ in Latin - those who worshiped local gods.  According to Vivianne Crowley paganism has four core beliefs:

i    The divine has made itself manifest through many deities in different places and at different times.  No one deity can express the totality of the divine.  This is called polytheism.
ii   The divine is present in nature and in each one of us.  This is called pantheism - the divine is everywhere.
iii   The divine is represented as both female and male.  The two major aspects of the divine are the goddess and god, although the divine is beyond limitations of gender.
iv   The 'Pagan Ethic' (also called the Wiccan Rede) is followed: If it harm none, do what you will.  This means a pagan cannot cause harm to anyone or anything, including themselves.

In his book 'One or Two,' Dr Peter Jones says:

Neo-pagans are the darling of a variety of movements.  They lead the way in the ‘green’ movement, in systems of wealth distribution, in planetary programmes for social justice, in solutions to supposedly man-made global warming, in interfaith conferences, in the normalisation of all sexual expressions and in the promotion of globalist theories through the United Nations (UN).  Kernels of truth in these theories give politicians and power brokers an excuse to seize geopolitical power.

Massive economic, ethnic, religious and environmental problems not only create fear, but stimulate a search for global solutions and this is where the mystics and pagans come into their own.  Religious Pluralism becomes the way ahead. 

Religious Pluralism

Religious Pluralism is the philosophical concept that states that various world religions are formed by their distinctive historical and cultural contexts and thus there is no single, true religion.  There are only many equally valid religions.  Each religion is a direct result of humanity’s attempt to grasp and understand the incomprehensible divine reality.  Therefore, each religion can hold an authentic but ultimately inadequate concept of divine reality, producing a partial understanding of the universal truth, which requires syncretism to achieve a complete understanding as well as a path towards salvation or spiritual enlightenment.

Some within the liberal Emerging Church have embraced Religious Pluralism and are seeking to create a modified gospel as part of a pagan programme of spirituality, social justice and human unity.

Defining spirituality as a combination of social justice and mystical experience

The church meanwhile is criticised for having focussed on personal salvation at the expense of social justice.  Defining spirituality as a combination of social justice and mystical experience is the essence of the new religious paganism.  The ideology of the media and academia was, for a time, driven by anti-Christian secular humanism, but now it is mainly driven by anti-Christian all-inclusive paganism.  A pagan programme of mystical spirituality, social justice and world peace is being proposed as the answer to all man’s ills.

A number of significant people/events can be cited to illustrate this on-going development.  A key player was Aleister Crowley who developed the occult organisation know as the Order of the Golden Dawn.  He authored many books between 1911 and 1940.  He was a self confessed Satanist and sought a religion to replace Christianity.  Biographer Lawrence Sutin says that Crowley ‘anticipated the spread of Eastern spirituality in the West.’

Theosophical Society

One of the most influential figures in the evolving New Spirituality was Russian Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891).  Blavatsky claimed to have psychic abilities and connected esoteric spiritual knowledge with the new science of evolution.  James Herrick, in his chapter ‘Modern Shamanism’ in the book 'On Global Wizardry,' says that:

Blavatsky labelled Christianity and the biblical tradition a spiritual aberration that deviated from its ancient mystical and pantheistic sources.

She founded the Theosophical Society to promote esoteric teaching, religious philosophy and mysticism.  Theosophy holds that all religions are attempts by the Occult Brotherhood to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth.  These teachings, which she called ‘The Ageless Wisdom’, had previously only been available to Secret Societies, but she obtained them from ‘enlightened mystics’ during her travels to Egypt and India.

The society’s magazine was called ‘Lucifer.’  Blavatsky in her book ‘The Secret Doctrine,’ said:

Bawa Jain, its founder, believes that religions need to accept the validity of all beliefs to attain world peace and that all religions and spiritualists, as well as assorted witch doctors, shamans and medicine men, draw their wisdom from the same source.  A shaman incidentally, through a state of trance acts as a medium between the visible world and the invisible spirit world, practising magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, or control over natural events.  To some, the shaman is a model of spirituality in the 21st century.

He applauds efforts to outlaw proselytising (the making of converts) and believes that the way to usher in the peace of the New World Order is through religious universalism.

Mikhail Gorbachev is calling for a synthesis of Buddhism and Christianity:

In this new synthesis, we need democratic, Christian and Buddhist values as well, which affirm such moral principles as social responsibility and the sense of oneness with nature and each other.  The future should be built with these moral building blocks that are centuries old.

According to Gary Kah on His Hope For The World website:

(Gorbachev) came to the United States to establish the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies, better known as The Gorbachev Foundation . . . Gorbachev is systematically unveiling his blueprint for a world government in the twenty-first century.  This blueprint, as we shall see, involves manipulating the earth's inhabitants into accepting a new world order in the name of saving the planet from environmental catastrophe.

In order to accomplish his goal, Gorbachev is calling for a global perestroika, a complete restructuring of our world and lives - including our economy, political system, and religious views.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation promotes respect and understanding between the world’s religions through education and multi-faith action.  His foundation puts multi-faith at the heart of globalisation.  Tony Blair has worked with Bill Clinton and more recently with Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Church) – Warren’s known as ‘America’s pastor.’

The future

We’ve only given the briefest of headlines, but hopefully sufficient to demonstrate both religious, occult and political support for the coming one world religion of tolerance.  More and more organisations with links to the UN are being established.  More and more individuals are getting involved and as always secret societies are at work under the radar.

The goal of the emerging New Spirituality dovetails perfectly with biblical prophecy.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (Rev 13:8).

Jesus warns us in Mathew’s Gospel that many false prophets will rise and lead many astray at the end of the age.  The good news is that Jesus is coming back soon as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

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2    History of the Emerging Church

Let’s move on to consider the Emerging Church.  Many believe that the Emerging Church began in the UK in 1986 with the emergence of the Nine O’clock Service at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in Sheffield.  Matthew Fox, known for Creation Spirituality, was a consultant to the leaders of the Nine O’clock Service.  See Part 5 on Mysticism for more on this.

Comments from various UK leaders on homosexuality, universalism and ‘cosmic child abuse’ all represent signs of emergence in the UK, but if we’re going to trace its history, it’s to Germany and to America that we need to turn and look at events much earlier than the Nine O’clock Service.

The issues we’ll look at are not necessarily in chronological order.  They sit within the broader context of the New Spirituality and therefore parallel some of the previous section of this report:

*    Humanistic infiltration
*    Biblical Criticism and loss of biblical inerrancy
*    Embracing Postmodernism and Eastern mysticism
*    Peter Drucker, Rick Warren and the Emerging Church
*    Leadership Network
*    A new Gospel

Humanistic infiltration

Paul Smith in his book 'New Evangelicalism,' argues that the liberal Emerging Church is rooted in the overthrow of the Christian worldview in America.

At a meeting held in a New York restaurant in 1905 a group of around 100 Marxist intellectuals committed to change the American culture from its Christian origins to a Humanistic worldview based on Marxism.  Their strategy was to infiltrate the learning centres, media, government and churches in America.  A quarter of a century later, they were in positions of leadership far and wide, including sadly, the church.

One of those who attended the meeting was John Dewey (1859-1952).  He was a humanist and the recognised father of education in America.  He promoted child-centred education.  His ideas were sown into the education system in America and elsewhere.

Smith, in his book 'New Evangelicalism,’ says:

Humanism . . . denies absolute truth and biblical values.  Thus there is no right or wrong . . . Public school literature now teaches children to become better citizens in a new world order.

Country, family and God are no longer goals to be achieved, but instead they are seen as causes for bigotry, narrow-mindedness, prejudice and intolerance.

The humanist teaches our children new thought patterns that meet the goals of the emerging elitist class who will equip society for global governance.

He goes on to say:

Humanism produces men who are convinced that they know what is best for mankind. This blindness comes from humanism's limited view which tries to explain the miracle of life and the universe apart from God and his inerrant revelation. The humanistic view of life motivates men who think they are the rightful rulers over the common people. They promote themselves as the knowledgeable elite - with all the right answers for a new world order necessary for the survival of humanity.

All the founding fathers of the liberal Emerging Church would have been educated in schools endorsing this humanistic agenda.

Biblical Criticism and loss of inerrancy

A second strand in the humanistic advance resulted from their infiltration of the church.  Building on a process that had already begun in Germany in the 1800’s, of applying humanistic thinking to the Bible (known as ‘higher criticism’), many Christians, intimidated by liberal theologians and intellectuals, began to lose confidence in the truths of the Bible.

By the 1920’s biblical fundamentalists (Christians who hold to orthodox beliefs) found themselves under full-scale attack from humanistic intellectual liberal theologians.  Fundamentalists believe the following:

*    The inerrancy of scripture (infallibility in the original language)
*    The virgin birth of Christ
*    Christ's substitutionary atonement (Jesus died in our place)
*    Christ's bodily resurrection
*    The authenticity of the miracles

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Tim 4:3-4)