Occult Means Hidden

The term occult (from the Latin word occultus “clandestine, hidden, secret”) is “knowledge of the hidden”.[1] The are many who are immersed in the occult in Hollywood, TV, The Music Industry and in many of the worlds largest companies.  We are providing this page as a resource to help you see the signs and symbols for a most sinister plan to deceive the nations.  We will seek to use this page a launching point for how to discern occult messages in media, music, tv, movies, government, and yes even in Churches as preparation of what the Bible describes is coming.

You will see Occult Messages in Hollywood Movies, Superbowl Halftime Shows, Music Awards, Magazines among the most influential people on the planet.  We will demonstrate the Who, What, When, Where and Why they flaunt these occult messages in Plain Sight.  Just click on the pictures to take you to additional articles here and on other great sites and watch hours of videos here as an introduction.

Have you noticed that the World is Upside Down?

(Isaiah 5:17-23)

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:  That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!  Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:  Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!”

COEXIST & One World

Christ Consciousness & New Age

Knights Templar & Crusades

Knights Templar – New Name, Same Crusade

What is The Occult Law of Reversal?

Occultist Aleister Crowley “New Age”

History of The New Age

The New Age or The Lie of the Serpent

The Enneagram Occult Origins Gnostic Mysticism Exposed

*Note by Joshua, above, I usually add in the featured image elements of the article.  The Enneagram proponents are either ignorant or malicious in advance of what we will demonstrate below of the Occult Nature and origins of Eastern Mysticism and expose it.  It has...

Dallas Jenkins’ “definitive (final) comments” on the Mormon issue exposed

(photo taken from a 2-second clip of a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD_84jg8Efs)

Presented by The Word Like Fire Ministries

Video is done by a former Mormon whom we have featured before.

Recently Dallas Jenkins, creator of The Chosen, has tried to wiggle out of some of his comments such as Christians and Mormons “love the same Jesus.” This excellent and short video demonstrates that, in spite his masterful effort at muddying the waters, Jenkins did make these claims. Click here to watch the video.

Related Information:

Letter to the Editor by Another Former Mormon: The Chosen DOES Promote Mormonism Despite Claims It Doesn’t

Jack Hibbs’ Ministry Defense Statement for Promoting The Chosen Has Poor Premise and Is Obscure

NEW BOOKLET: THE CHOSEN Series—10 Critical Concerns

This post was originally published on this site

YOGA: Exercise or Religion—Does it Matter?

Note: The following is from Ray Yungen’s updated booklet on Yoga. Today, countless numbers of Christians (and the churches they attend) are incorporating Yoga exercises into their lives, thinking that “just doing the exercises” is OK. If you know someone who is doing Yoga (even “just the exercises”), please give them a copy of this article or the booklet.

By Ray Yungen

It is a moment that troubles me even now. Once, when I was giving a presentation at a Christian college about New Age spirituality, I noticed a student roll her eyes when I mentioned the term, Yoga. It was a small gesture, yet it spoke volumes—as if to say, “Give me a break! It’s just exercises!” I surmised from her response that she was a Yoga practitioner or had at least been exposed to the subject and believed that participation in Yoga had no negative impact on one’s spiritual life. After all, the young lady was attending a Christian college, so she likely presumed she was discerning enough to know whether a practice was pagan or not. But she gave no biblical evaluation of Yoga, and rather wordlessly defended it. Unfortunately, this trend to accept Yoga and other New Age practices has only continued to accelerate within Christian colleges, ministries, and even churches.

Just Exercise?Currently, an estimated 24 million people (as of 2022, that number has increased to nearly 40 million) in the United States are regularly involved with some form of Yoga.1 In the town where I live, the high majority of health clubs, including the YMCA, YWCA, and the local community college, offer Yoga classes. According to a survey by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease and Prevention, nearly ten percent of U.S. adults and three percent of children participated in yoga in 2012.”2 (According to new surveys, those numbers have increased dramatically by 2022 (https://geekhealthjournal.com/yoga-statistics/).) Most of these adults may be vaguely aware of the Hindu component of Yoga but see that as being irrelevant to taking Yoga classes. Many people doing the asanas, or postures, seem to feel that these exercises are devoid of any religious connotation.

Professor Bradley J. Malkovsky of Notre Dame University makes the following observation, which aptly demonstrates how Yoga has gone from being relatively obscure to notably pervasive:

I remember almost twenty years ago how the first time I mentioned the word yoga in one of my theology classes, many of my students, most of whom were Christian, could not stifle their laughter. They thought the whole idea of practicing yoga was strange and exotic, something that people of other religions did. Only one student out of about seventy that day had ever tried yoga. But nowadays almost every hand goes up when I ask which students have practiced yoga. Things have clearly changed. Yoga is more prevalent now than ever among people living in the West.3

Professor Malkovsky goes on to say Yoga’s popularity is not just linked to physical fitness primarily, but is an age-old system with a definite spiritual component:

If my students end up going deeper into yoga than simply practicing āsanas [postures], they will learn just how much the wisdom of ancient India can spiritually nourish them, even here on the other side of the world, in twenty-first-century America.4

I find it interesting (but also disconcerting) that many people really don’t examine the reality behind this last statement. To many Americans, Yoga is only exercise, although of a more exotic variety. Generally, people think the different postures aid in healing and strengthening the physical body. Some may also maintain that Yoga calms the mind as well, but from years of research, I have determined only relatively few are aware that Yoga is a religious practice. Can I prove this? Consider the following. If you go to the Fitness” section of any bookstore and look in the Yoga subsection, you will find references to the spiritual aspects of Yoga such as the chakra system, kundalini, etc. in almost every book on Yoga. It is quite rare to find a book on Yoga that does not incorporate spiritual concepts found in classic Hinduism. To devout Hindus, Yoga cannot be separated into physical and spiritual parts. Both are relevant to the practice, with the end desire being a profound religious experience.

The word “yoga” actually means to be yoked to or united in body, mind, and spirit with Brahman (the Hindu concept of God).5 It doesn’t get more spiritually obvious than that.

Yoga adherents cannot divorce the religious or spiritual aspects of Yoga from the physical because the physical postures were, from their inception, specifically designed to serve as conduits to yogic religious experience. In fact, it cannot really be called Yoga without union with the spiritual realm. Yoga is union with Brahman, the Hindu view of God. If you are not on the road to being connected with Brahman, you can’t really call it Yoga.

The Reality Behind YogaBeth Shaw, the founder and CEO of YogaFit (an organization which has trained over 250,000 instructors worldwide as of 2022), teaches that Yoga consists of far more than mere physical exercises. In her book, she reveals:

The ancient practice of meditation is as integral to yoga as the poses are, and they have the same intention: not to tune out, but to tune in to a frequency that is long forgotten or perhaps undiscovered.6 (emphasis added)

What exactly is this frequency she is talking about? Yoga instructor and author Stephen Cope provides the answer. He says, “We are all born divine. . . . This is the classic statement of the perennial philosophy of yoga.”7 This leaves little to the imagination when it comes to understanding the spiritual framework regarding the practice of Yoga. Cope has made his Yoga stance even clearer with the following two statements:

What we are seeking is already at the core of our nature. . . . We are already inherently perfect.8It means that God is available to us fully in each moment, simply because God is our true nature.9

Yoga has been a springboard into the New Age for quite a number of people. One of them, Jack Canfield (bestselling author of the Chicken Soup books), attests to getting his spiritual jumpstart doing Yoga. In college, he took a Yoga class as an elective, did meditation, and became a believer. He said he “felt god flowing through all things.”10 In Canfield’s book The Success Principles, he writes:

As you meditate and become more spiritually attuned, you can better discern and recognize the sound of your higher self.11

This is basically Yoga 101.

Occultist and “prophetess” Alice Bailey also reflected on this same definition. Bailey recognized that Yoga was something integral to the spread of New Age spirituality. Her reflection on it shows the emphasis the religion of occultism places on the practice of Yoga. You can see this when she proposed the following:

The Yogi, or the one who has achieved union (for Yoga is the science of union) knows himself as he is in reality . . . he knows himself to be, past all controversy, God.12 (parenthesis in original)

Even Aleister Crowley, the 20th century’s foremost proponent of occultism, saw Yoga as vital to his spiritual life. He offered his opinions and observations in his book Eight Lectures on Yoga. This body of work has been referred to as “the most scientific and informational work on Yoga ever written.”13

Exercising Biblical DiscernmentIt cannot be overstated that discernment, and an appropriate response to what is discerned, is one of the hallmarks of a mature Christian. We live in an age where the acceptance of trendy practices, such as Yoga, is hammered into us from every side, with the end result being an ecumenical generic inter-spirituality that fits everybody.

Believers in Christ have fallen prey to some dangerous ideas. One is that we feel free to draw from pagan sources. Or, as is popularly stated, we can chew the meat and spit out the bones. But this doesn’t make any sense from a biblical standpoint. As a Christian, we can’t segregate into portions what part we think will do us harm and what part will profit us. If the foundational spirituality is contrary to God’s Word, then it will be folly to interact with it.

Another saying that is often used as a defense is the old phrase, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” But as the late apologist Dave Hunt used to say, what if it’s Rosemary’s Baby?14 (a horror movie from the 1960s).

One of the reasons that Yoga has become so popular is that it lacks many of the sexual taboos that the Judeo/Christian tradition has. In other words, the reason Yoga is compatible with people such as Aleister Crowley, who was considered one of the most wicked men to ever live, is because Yoga overlooks the perversity of fallen human nature. The following account provides us with compelling food for thought—

Actress and sister/daughter to the singing Judds, Ashley Judd wrote a book about her social activism regarding the AIDS epidemic around the world. Accompanying her on trips was her close friend and celebrity Yoga instructor, Seane Corn. Judd told the following story to emphasize a spiritual point to her readers:

Back in the 1980s, Corn had worked as a bartender in a gay nightclub. One of the patrons of the club who was a close friend of Corn’s died of AIDS. Judd explained how before he died he passed on to Corn that God was in every person she met, even patrons of a gay bar. “Ignore the story [the lifestyle] and see the soul,” he told her. Corn said it was her “first lesson in the central tenet of Yoga—that we are all one.”15

What I find especially problematic is that at the beginning of her book, Ashley Judd describes herself as an evangelical Christian. An evangelical Christian is not supposed to believe the philosophy Judd has just related.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6: 9-11)

Am I saying that everyone who does Yoga is basically immoral? Not at all. But could it be that at least part of the reason homosexuality has become so accepted over the last thirty years, even now within parts of mainstream Christianity, is due to the widespread influence of Yoga and other mystically based practices? That’s certainly something to consider.

As believers, we are told in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” We are often like the Old Testament Israelites whom the Lord commanded to “learn not the way of the heathen” (Jeremiah 10:2), and who were forbidden to marry pagan women (Jeremiah 16), and instead were enamored with the women of the nations surrounding them, and were thus seduced into idolatry.

When Yoga is viewed through the lens of the Cross of Christ, it is clear that the two are incompatible. When a person becomes involved with Yoga, he enters a realm of often subtle but powerful spiritual deception.

Unexpected ResultsThe Russel Simmons story is of special interest with regard to my warning about Yoga. Simmons was a young, street-wise black youth who later did quite well for himself as a hip-hop (rap) music producer. Ironically, Simmons did not fit any New Age stereotype, but a friend, as he put it, “dragged [him]into a yoga class,” and he “realized [he] had stumbled onto something incredible.”16 As a result, Simmons acquired the spiritual perspective that always accompanies the practice of Yoga. Simmons relates:

A lot of the time it seems like people are more comfortable listening to the God that is outside them, but I believe that God is already inside of you. . . . The God that’s in all of our hearts.17

The student I referred to in the beginning of this booklet who rolled her eyes when I mentioned Yoga might have reconsidered her response if presented with the facts you have just read in this article. This is exactly the point I am trying to make, that Yoga produces a certain perception. That perception is identical with what is commonly called New Age spirituality. Incidentally, Simmons has become a major Yoga “evangelist” and has written three books (one a best seller), which specifically target the young hip-hop audience.

Christine Aguilera, popular singer in the vein of Brittney Spears, fits right into this pattern. In a 2015 ABC news article titled “Yoga Serving As Inspiration For Aguilera’s New Music,” Aguilera states:

. . . taking a love for Yoga and breathing . . . not looking at it as an exercise, but just feeling more in one with the Earth and everyone being connected. It’ll definitely have a reflection on the new record.18

Aguilera is an influence to millions of young girls, who see her as a role model and emulate her. Aguilera is not an anomaly.

In the Western world, Yoga has become largely a female-based phenomenon; however, a growing number of men are doing Yoga now as well (between 2012 to 2016, men practicing Yoga in the US increased by 4 Million.) A high percentage of these men and women, such as Simmons, have gone on to become Yoga “missionaries,” with an interest in converting family members, friends, coworkers, etc. Such proselytizing has resulted in tens of millions around the world who have practiced Yoga. Just think about this: if each one of these people is able to influence just five or six people in their lifetime with regard to Yoga, we’d be looking at well over a quarter billion people.

It cannot be ignored that even if a person has no interest in the spiritual roots of Yoga, by taking a Yoga class or even participating via video or books, he or she is exposing him or herself to Hindu spirituality, which is inherent in the practice. People need to understand that Yoga is a religious expression and therefore cannot be compartmentalized (i.e., exercise vs. religion). Even the traditional Hindu greeting, Namasté, that is said at the end of Yoga classes, is spiritual. When translated, it means, “The god in me bows down to (or salutes) the god in you.” In essence, Namasté encompasses the full spectrum of the spirituality of the Age of Aquarius.

It is essential for us as Christians to comprehend the gravity of this situation and understand what Dr. Malkovsky is bringing to our attention. Most likely, you have someone in your circle of family and friends who has been involved with Yoga. My publisher, Lighthouse Trails, told me that they frequently receive phone calls from people telling them that their churches are doing Yoga and often at the prompting and leading of the pastors’ wives or women’s ministry leaders. What was once nearly unheard of within evangelical churches is now being increasingly accepted. In Dr. Malkovsky’s book, he proceeds to back up the very thing I am attempting to convey in this article:

[M]any people who are at first uninterested in meditation when they take up yoga practice gradually come to discover its value, especially if they have a teacher who understands that yoga’s ultimate aim is spiritual health, not merely physical health.19

Surprisingly, some advocates of Yoga do see the inherent clash between Yoga and Christianity. Stephanie Syman, in her book titled The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America actually draws the same conclusions I am presenting. Her observation is that despite the promises of the Yoga community that Yoga “doesn’t [contradict] our most sacred beliefs,”20 it may very well do so. She explains:

[Yoga Proponents] may actually be wrong on this point. It’s hard to reconcile the subtle body [the chakras] and the possibility of experiencing divinity for yourself by methodically following a program of exercise, breathing, and meditation with Judeo-Christian notions of God and the afterlife, but we seem willing to ignore the discontinuities.21 (emphasis added)

Yoga has become so accepted and ingrained in the Western world that you can now find it everywhere, and I do mean everywhere! Recently, I was passing through a very small town in western Montana and was surprised to see a Yoga studio located in the center of town. What really got my attention was that this studio was named after the Hindu goddess, Shakti!

The Yoga boom, which began in the 1990s, has changed the very social fabric of our society in a way that will last well into the future. People need to be aware that Yoga serves spiritual ends and also need to realize just what the nature of that spirituality entails. Yoga is the religion of namasté (i.e., man is God). The fact is, there is no need for the Cross of Jesus Christ in Yoga. To the contrary, Scripture tells us:

. . . that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.(Ephesians 2:7; emphasis added)

To order copies of YOGA: Exercise or Religion—Does it Matter? in booklet format, click here.

Endnotes:1. Kim Painter, “Ancient Practice of Yoga Now a Growth Industry (USA Today, March 3, 2015; http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/01/yoga-health-fitness-trends/23881391/).2. Ibid.; information taken from the survey at https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/mind-body/yoga.3. Bradley Malkovsky, God’s Other Children: Personal Encounters with Love, Holiness, and Faith in Sacred India (HarperCollins, Kindle Edition), p. 152.4. Ibid.5. For example: http://www.universalspirityoga.com/whatisyoga.html.6. Beth Shaw, Yoga Fit (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2015, 3rd Edition), p. 315.7. Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1999 edition).8. Ibid.9. Ibid.10. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Dare to Win (New York, NY: Berkeley Books, 1994), p. 195.11. Jack Canfield, The Success Principles (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2015, 10th anniversary edition), p. 377.12. Alice Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 16th Printing, 2012), p. 189.13. A review of Aleister Crowley’s book, Eight Lectures on Yoga: https://books.google.com/books/about/Eight_Lectures_on_Yoga.html?id=Ft4KAAAACAAJ.14. Dave Hunt, “Has The Church Sold Its Birthright To Psychology?” (The Berean Call; https://www.thebereancall.org/content/has-church-sold-its-birthright-psychology).15. Ashley Judd, All That Is Bitter and Sweet: A Memoir (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2011), p. 286.16. Russell Simmons with Chris Morrow, Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2007, Kindle Edition), Kindle Location: 1142.17. Ibid., 1047.18. Mesfin Fekadu, “Yoga Serving As Inspiration For Aguilera’s New Music” (ABC News, October 7, 2015, http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/yoga-serving-inspiration-aguileras-music-34309801).19. Bradley Malkovsky, God’s Other Children, op. cit., p. 146.20. Stefanie Syman, The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010), p. 291.21. Ibid.

To order copies of YOGA: Exercise or Religion—Does it Matter? in booklet format, click here.

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The Big Picture: How the World and the Church Are Being Deceived: Ten Spiritual Devices

LTRP Note: The following is an extract from Warren B. Smith’s booklet The Big Picture: How the World and the Church Are Being Deceived: Ten Spiritual Devices.

By Warren B. Smith

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Many years ago, I was recruited into the New Age movement to help implement its deceptive peace plan. The same devices used to deceive me into accepting its teachings are the same devices being used today to deceive the world—and the church. These devices are preparing everyone for a seemingly “wonderful” peace plan that is being euphemistically described as God’s Dream for the world. The following are ten of these deceptive spiritual devices.

How the World and the Church are Being Deceived: Ten Spiritual Devices

1) Putting Unwarranted Trust in PeopleMy involvement in the New Age was not initiated by an interest in spirituality but by my interest in a waitress in a local downtown restaurant. One day, she mentioned that a friend of a friend of hers was a psychic and was coming to town to do some psychic readings. She asked if I would be interested in seeing this woman and getting a reading. Wanting to demonstrate my being open to spiritual things, and hoping to gain her favor, I agreed to see the psychic. Had it not been for my friend’s endorsement of this questionable practice, I would never have consented to have the reading. However, my natural suspicion of psychics was overridden by her making it seem so normal. Later as a new Christian, I read in the Bible how spiritually dangerous it is to be involved with psychics, We are not to give any regard to those who consult with familiar spirits (Leviticus 19:31). Psychics and things like Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, meditation, Yoga, and countless other occult practices can unwittingly open doors to a deceptive and evil spirit world.

This same device of putting unwarranted trust in people rather than the Word of God can also be seen in the church today. Just because a friend or relative has been a Christian for years, doesn’t mean that their endorsement of a particular pastor, teacher, book, or spiritual practice should be accepted without any questions. The Bible warns us not to put undue trust in a friend or a guide. Rather, we are to “try the spirits (1 John 4:1) and rightly divide the Word of God regarding whatever we are reading, experiencing, or being told (2 Timothy 2:15). Like the Bereans, we are to search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are really so (Acts 17:11). Trusting other people and not the Word of God is one of Satan’s many deceptive devices.

Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide. (Micah 7:5)

2) Putting Unwarranted Trust in Spiritual ExperiencesDuring my spiritual reading with the psychic, she revealed many things about me that she had no way of knowing. This made her more credible in my eyes and she gained my immediate respect and definite attention. Toward the end of the reading, I felt an intense whirling sensation over my head that vibrated and tingled and felt very strange. I had never experienced anything quite like it. Without my saying anything to her, the psychic said—“Are you aware there is a ball of light over your head right now?” She proceeded to tell me that the ball of light was there because I had “a lot of help from the other side.” When I asked her what the “other side” was, she told me angels, loved ones who had passed on, and other spirits who were interested in my spiritual well-being. She said if I wanted their help in my spiritual life, I had to ask and give them permission to come into my life.

So that night I prayed—“You on the other side, please come into my life. I want to be more spiritual. I want to grow.” In my naivete, what I actually prayed was a reverse sinner’s prayer that was completely contrary to God’s ways. By doing this, I had unwittingly opened a door to the evil spirit world. When I came to the Lord and gained a better understanding of the Bible, I realized the ball of light that appeared in my psychic reading was not good and was not from God. It was obviously a deceptive spirit that came as an angel of light. It was sent to make me feel special and to convince me that I had a lot of spiritual help on “the other side.” And the psychic told me that part of that help might come from “loved ones” who had passed on. This alleged communication with the dead was very common in the New Age, but it is not usually found in the church.

However, Steve Berger, founding pastor of Grace Chapel in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, claims that he and his wife have had ongoing visitations and conversations with their deceased son Josiah. In his book Have Heart: Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth, Berger describes some of the conversations they believe they have had with their son. Endorsements by mega-church pastor Greg Laurie, televangelist James Robison, and others listed in the front of Berger’s book seem to give legitimacy to what Berger is teaching—just as the waitress seemed to give legitimacy to my seeing a psychic. But, again, we are not to put unquestioned trust in people rather than the Word of God.

The Bible is very clear that we are not to communicate with the dead. This is the stuff of séances, channelings, spiritist readings, and the occult/New Age. Deuteronomy 18:9-11 forbids communicating with the dead and calls it necromancy. Certain pastors may have solid reputations as teachers and evangelists, but they are seriously wrong to present this kind of teaching to the church. The evil spirit world is only too willing to counterfeit our loved ones through spiritual experiences that play upon our human emotions and our love of family. Providing deceptive spiritual experiences that can open doors to the spirit world is one of Satan’s chief devices.

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)

3) Seemingly “Meant-To-Be” Circumstances That Appear to be From GodLater that same year, I took a girlfriend to Big Sur for a special New Year’s Eve. This rugged California coastal area seemed to be a great way to continue my spiritual pursuits and start the year. Checking into the majestic Nepenthe Bookstore, I was immediately drawn to a book titled Journey Toward the Heart by an Indian master I had never heard of before. His name was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

After a series of incredible, seemingly meant-to-be circumstances that arose immediately after purchasing the book by Rajneesh, we serendipitously landed in a mountaintop cabin with nothing but clouds below us and, incredibly, another book by Rajneesh—Only One Sky—sitting on the bedside table. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh—a man I had never heard of before purchasing his other book an hour previous. Everything seemed to be benevolently conspiring to introduce me to this Indian guru. It all seemed so meant-to-be. But the question I never thought to ask was, meant-to-be by whom?

Many pastors, church leaders, and plain everyday folks are fond of saying: “It’s no accident.” “There is a reason for everything.” “It was meant-to-be.” The inference is that whatever they experienced was good and must have been divinely orchestrated by God. Rarely, if ever, does anyone even hint at the possibility of spiritual deception. But many of today’s spiritual experiences are not from God. It may seem to be God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit when it is not. Thus, whatever one is experiencing or being told needs to be tested, prayed about, and rightly divided by the Word of God. And while God can also orchestrate spiritual experiences, the church should always be on the lookout for contrived meant-to-be circumstances arranged by our Spiritual Adversary. These deceptive, seemingly meant-to-be experiences from God are yet another one of Satan’s clever devices.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. (1 John 2:26)

4) The New Age Doctrine of “Oneness”In 1980, New Age teacher Marilyn Ferguson’s book The Aquarian Conspiracy was published and became an instant cult classic. In her book that is often regarded as a New Age “Bible,” Ferguson wrote somewhat playfully, with tongue-in-cheek, that a growing number of New Age “conspirators” had “a great heretical idea”1— the notion of “God within”—that God was “in” everyone and everything. As I fell deeper and deeper under the spiritual spell of Rajneesh and my other New Age teachers, this God “in” everyone and everything concept of Oneness seemed so simple and true, and felt so right to my misguided heart.

In a booklet titled Be Still and Know That You Are Not God: God is Not “in” Everyone and Everything,2 I showed how this New Age teaching of God “in” everyone and everything is not only in the world but also in the church. It isn’t just New Age leaders who are proclaiming it—I described how church leaders including Rick Warren, Eugene Peterson, Leonard Sweet, Sara Young, Pope Francis, and William P. Young—among others—have brought this God-“in”-everything teaching into the church.

The Bible says that all of humanity is one blood (Acts 17:26) because we all have an original set of parents—Adam and Eve. But Jesus said what “is born of the flesh is flesh” and what “is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). That is why He then said to “Marvel not” that we “must be born again” (John 3:7). The Bible makes it clear that God and Christ are not inherently “in” everyone and everything. It is only when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and are born again that His Holy Spirit is sent to dwell within us and that we become one in Him. Christ is not in everyone, but we are one in Christ when we believe in Him and are born again—“for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

The New Age “Doctrine of Oneness” that says God is “in” everyone and everything is a lie. It is, perhaps, Satan’s chief device to deceive the world and the church. As seen with His response to the Tower of Babel, God demonstrated that He is definitely not into worldly oneness:

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. (Genesis 11:6-8)

5) The New Age Doctrine of SeparationWhile attending a massage program at the Sacramento Holistic Health Institute, one of my New Age classmates gave me a book titled Love is Letting Go of Fear by a psychiatrist named Gerald Jampolsky. This little self-help manual was very engaging as he talked of love, hope, faith, gratitude, and forgiveness in a decidedly unique and spiritual way. The author said his book had been greatly inspired by a set of books called A Course in Miracles. I immediately purchased The Course at a local New Age bookstore. I was surprised to see that the books were said to be channeled by “Jesus” to a Columbia Presbyterian Hospital psychologist in New York City named Helen Schucman. Not knowing the Bible, I read and accepted much of what this alleged “Jesus” said and taught. I had no idea that mingled with lofty statements about God and love and the Holy Spirit, this false Christ “Jesus” turned the actual teachings of the Bible inside out and upside down. Emphasizing the word “separation,” he taught, “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There is no separation of God and His creation.”3 Emphasizing the word “oneness,” he stated that “The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.”4 This counterfeit “Jesus” denigrated the true Christ’s victory on the Cross of Calvary by teaching that “The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey’”5 and that “a slain Christ has no meaning.”6 These teachings reiterated what I had already been learning from Rajneesh and my other New Age teachers—we don’t need an external Savior because we can save ourselves by recognizing that we are all one because God is “in” everyone and everything.

In her book The Revelation, New Age author and futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard quotes the New Age Christ stating that those who oppose the idea of oneness with God are under the “illusion of separation.”7 In A Course in Miracles, the false New Age Christ states, “The mind can make the belief in separation very real and very fearful, and this belief is the ‘devil.’”8 He further states that those who are under the illusion of separation are “dreaming” and need to be “gently awakened” from their hapless dream of “separateness” by God’s “happy dream” of Oneness.9

There is something that should be of great concern to those keeping an eye on how this concept of separation might be coming into the church: On the fifth episode of his TBN television series Restoring the Shack, William P. Young, citing God as his source, stated that the “lie of separation” has prevented the church from being unified, whole, and one.10 That Young would introduce the New Age Doctrine of Separation is not surprising if you read The Shack carefully. The Shack’s “Jesus” openly teaches New Age “Oneness” when Young has him affirm that God is “in” everyone and everything. The Shack’s “Jesus” states, “God who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things.”11 In Jesus Calling, Sarah Young’s “Jesus” also teaches this same New Age Oneness when he declares—“I am above all, as well as in all.”12

A more detailed description of this Oneness vs. Separation heresy is carefully documented in my book False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care? and in my booklet titled Oneness vs. Separation Heresy Now in the Church.13 The New Age Doctrine of Separation disparages and denigrates those who refuse to subscribe to the Doctrine of Oneness. God is, in fact, separate from His creation. He is not in everyone and everything. But Satan’s twisted New Age take on separation has been—and will continue to be—one of his main devices. Using the word separation scripturally and properly, the Bible tells us to “be ye separate” from the world and from worldly New Age doctrines like the Doctrine of Oneness versus Separation.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate. (2 Corinthians 6:17)

6) God’s DreamThe term “God’s Dream” has become almost commonplace in the world—and the church. “God’s Dream” is now the subject of numerous Christian books, booklets, sermons, songs, and radio shows. But most people using the term “God’s Dream” don’t realize it is a deceptive New Age term that was introduced over a hundred years ago in a 1916 Theosophical Path New Age magazine article.14 As previously mentioned, the term “God’s Dream” is a crucial New Age concept intimately linked to the New Age peace plan. It is at the heart of everything taught in A Course in Miracles by the New Age “Jesus.” The term “God’s Dream” has been used by the false Christ Maitreya who claims to already be here on Earth waiting for humanity to call him forth. It has been used by New Age channeler and best-selling Conversations with God author Neale Donald Walsch who claims to speak for God. It has been used and publicly promoted by New Age sympathizer Oprah Winfrey. All these references and many others are documented in my booklet God’s Dream: Satan’s Ultimate Scheme.15

The New Age term, “God’s Dream,” is also used by a wide variety of pastors, authors, church leaders, and worship leaders. “God’s Dream” was first introduced into the church by the late Crystal Cathedral pastor Robert Schuller in his 1974 book Your Church Has Real Possibilities.16 It was then exponentially popularized by Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. It is now commonly used by a wide array of church figures that include Bethel Church pastor Bill Johnson, Shack author William P. Young, Kenneth Copeland, Brian McLaren, Pope Francis, Joel Osteen, Sarah Young, Leonard Sweet, Mark Batterson, Joyce Meyer, Ravi Zacharias, and countless others. Most of them probably have no idea of its New Age origin and how “God’s Dream” is a strategic part of Satan’s New Age peace plan. Curiously, Rick Warren has introduced his own formal P.E.A.C.E. Plan that he has actually titled—“God’s Dream for You and the World.” Over the last several years he has been pushing “God’s Dream” heavily in his sermons and on his radio program—even writing a booklet titled God’s Dream For Your Life. But “God’s Dream” is a false overlapping New Age concept that has now made its way deep into the church. Thanks to Robert Schuller and Rick Warren, the concept of “God’s Dream” has become so widely popularized in church circles that church references now far outweigh the New Age references that once preceded them. “God’s Dream” is one of Satan’s most cunning devices.

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:32)

7) Not Testing the SpiritsWith Rajneesh, the psychics, and channelers I spent time with, the workshops I went to, and all the New Age books I read—meditation and contemplative prayer were almost always stressed. Being still was supposed to help us attain personal peace and well-being and to hear from God—or what was often called the “Universe” or the “Source.” It was through these meditative and contemplative practices that so many heretical teachings have been delivered into the world by seducing spirits—much of it described as “new revelation.”

Today, there is increased pressure for people in the church to hear the voices of God and Jesus. And while countless books have been written on “how to hear the voice of God or Jesus,” it is hard to find even one that talks about proving the authenticity of who and what they are hearing (1 Thessalonians 5:21)—to “test” and “try” the spirits because there are so many false prophets and deceptive spirits out there in the world (1 John 4:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:1). Sarah Young claims to be getting messages from Jesus, but many of her messages in Jesus Calling have serious New Age implications—like her “Jesus” stating that he is “in” everything—that he is “above all as well as in all.”17 Shack author William P. Young claims to have had conversations with God yet has his “Jesus” teaching the New Age Doctrine of Oneness—God dwelling “in” everyone and everything.18

We can test or try the spirits by measuring or comparing what is being said with the Gospel and the Word of God. If a supposed message (or messenger) from God contradicts God’s Word and the Gospel message, then we know that that spirit is not of God. In the case of the “Jesus” in Jesus Calling and The Shack, where he teaches that God is “in” everything and everyone, this clearly is the teaching of “another spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:4) because it rejects the Gospel wherein God (Jesus) came in the flesh to save man from his sins.

It is yet another one of Satan’s most cunning devices to get Christian leaders and everyday believers to overlook, forget, omit, ignore, or somehow disbelieve in the necessity of testing the spirits.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

8) The New StoryNew Age leaders are teaching that we need a “new narrative”—a “new story” to replace what is perceived to be the tired “old story” of biblical Christianity. As mentioned, the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles teaches the alleged “new story” of the necessity of humanity being “awakened” from its “fearful” ungodly dream of “separation” by “God’s Dream” of “Oneness.” The “new story”—“God’s Dream”—teaches that as humanity awakens to the truth of Oneness, world peace becomes a real possibility. But the new story warns that those who are under the “illusion of separation”—those who do not believe that God is “in” everyone and everything—hinder and prevent world peace through their disbelief. Thus, the new story of “God’s Dream” for the world and the church isolates those who do not hold to the New Age Doctrine of Oneness—like Christians—and will ultimately lead to their persecution. Biblical believers are disparagingly referred to as those who believe the “old story” of separation. But the Bible’s story is not old in that pejorative sense. It is as true today as when it was originally written and recorded. Humanity is not God, and humanity is not one with God. God and His creation are separate. “God’s Dream” is not a new story. Rather it is a cunningly devised fable that is just another one of Satan’s clever devices.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)

9) Quantum SpiritualityWhen I was involved with New Age spirituality, Fritjof Capra’s 1975 book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism was a New Age classic. Capra contended that quantum physics was in the process of proving that God was a force and an energy field that interpenetrated all creation. And with quantum physics leading the way, a New Age/New Spirituality was gearing up to make both a proverbial and literal “quantum leap” to a “quantum spirituality” and a “quantum Christ”—not the biblical Christ but a New Age “God” and “Christ” who were “in” everyone and everything. Back then, I didn’t know that the Bible warned about those who falsely use science to try and prove their faith (1 Timothy 6:20-21).

Sadly, church figures like Leonard Sweet are joining this march to New Age Oneness by way of quantum physics. In his 1991 book Quantum Spirituality, Sweet openly proclaims his belief in Oneness by quoting Catholic mystic Thomas Merton:

We are already one. But we imagine we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.19

Sweet’s New Age sympathies become even more apparent when he states that this Oneness and original unity is based on his belief that God is “in” everyone and everything. He writes that his view of postmodern Christianity—spell that New Age Christianity—“entails a radical doctrine of embodiment of God in the very substance of creation.”20 My former New Age teachers couldn’t have said it any more clearly than what Sweet is telling the church. An ordained Methodist who speaks all over the world, Sweet has led workshops with Rick Warren—and is, indeed, teaching the church a “radical doctrine”—the New Age Doctrine of Oneness. Compounding his New Age sympathies, Sweet refers to the father of the New Age movement—Catholic Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin—as “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.”21 Sweet also talks openly about the importance of “God’s Dream.”22 While Sweet and others are clearly New Age sympathizers, their unbiblical New Age teachings remain uncontested in a church that doesn’t seem to understand what is really going on. Trying to use science to prove something that is not true—God “in” everything—is just another clever device being used by Satan to deceive the church.

Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. (1 Timothy 6:19-21)

10) The Planetary Pentecost—a False Last-Days RevivalAs part of the New Age movement, we believed we would be part of a worldwide effort to bring about world peace. The New Age “Christ” states—and we believed—that Armageddon doesn’t have to happen—that there is an “alternative to Armageddon” that he calls the “Planetary Pentecost.”23 It is described as an ultimate revival for the world and the church. It would engender everyone’s hope for “God’s Dream”—for world peace. But there is no alternative to prophecy, and the Book of Revelation is presented as direct prophecy from Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-3). The Book of Revelation does not mention any true revival taking place in the latter times. There will be a false New Age revival that will bring on a false New Age “Christ” and a false New Age peace. But in the end, “God’s Dream” will become a New Age nightmare. They will say peace, but there will be no peace until the true Christ—Jesus Christ—actually returns. Dangling the possibility of world peace through a false planetary revival that will include an apostate “church,” this Planetary Pentecost is perhaps one of Satan’s cruelest devices.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

LTRP Note: The article above is from Warren B. Smith’s booklet The Big Picture.

Endnotes1) Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1970s (Los Angeles, CA: J.P. Tarcher, Inc., 1980), p. 27.2) Warren B. Smith, Be Still and Know That You are Not God: God is Not “in” Everyone and Everything (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2015).3) A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume (Glen Allen, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1975, 1992), (Text) p. 147.4) Ibid., (Text) p. 125.5) Ibid., (Text) p. 52.6) Ibid., (Text) p. 425.7) Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation: A Message of Hope for the New Millennium (Novato, CA: Nataraj Publishing, 1995), p. 233.8) A Course in Miracles, op cit., p. 50.9) Ibid., pp. 377, 584.10) Restoring the Shack television series, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), March 12, 2017, Episode 5.11) William P. Young, The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity (Los Angeles, CA: Windblown Media, 2007), p. 112.12) Sarah Young, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 199.13) Warren B. Smith, False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care? (Magalia, CA: Mountain Stream Press, 2011); Warren B. Smith, Oneness vs. Separation Heresy Now in the Church (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2018).14) Katherine Tingley, Editor (Theosophical Path magazine, Volume X, No. 2, February 1916), p. 159.15) Warren B. Smith, God’s Dream: Satan’s Ultimate Scheme (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Publishing).16) Robert H. Schuller, Your Church Has Real Possibilities (Glendale, CA: Regal Books Division, G/L Publications, 1974), pp. 176-179.17) Sarah Young, Jesus Calling, op. cit., p. 199.18) William P. Young, The Shack, op. cit., p. 112.19) Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic (Dayton, OH: Whaleprints for SpiritVenture Ministries, Inc., 1991, 1994), p. 13.20) Ibid., p. 125.21) Ibid., p. 106.22) Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999), p. 34.23) Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation, op. cit., p. 157.

To order copies of The Big Picture—How the World and the Church Are Being Deceived: Ten Spiritual Devices,click here.

(Illustration from cover of The Big Picture booklet.)

To read more material by Warren Smith, including his spiritual biography, The Light That Was Dark: From the New Age to Amazing Grace, visit his website at: www.newagetoamazinggrace.com.

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Sorceries or Salvation—Which Shall It Be?

By Ray Yungen

God’s Desire

Just what exactly is God’s desire for mankind? Does He want to send people to Hell? Does He want anyone to live eternally without Him? Scripture is very clear about this when it says:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

God makes a strong plea to all people, giving them every opportunity to receive Him. It is God’s desire that none should perish eternally. That’s why He offered His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—the only perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin:

Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Jesus] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18)

What it comes down to is the preaching of the higher self (as taught in contemplative spirituality) versus the preaching of the Cross. The New Age says that God is the higher self in man—that God is just a meditation away.

Many people are turned off when they think Christian teaching says we are bad and worthless. But this is not an accurate depiction of Christianity. It may teach that man is bad  (i.e., sinful) (which is evident) but certainly not worthless. The fact that Christ died for the “ungodly” to “reconcile” them to God shows God’s love toward man. In contrast to karma, the Gospel of grace is better in that if you accept its provision, you are complete (perfect) in Christ Jesus.

This is why Christianity is so steadfast on these issues. If a belief system is not preaching the Cross, then it is not “the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). If other ways are correct, then Christ died in vain, His blood shed unnecessarily.

A Warning and a Plea

It is very true that God loves mankind, so much so He sent His Son to save all who receive Him by faith. The Lord is very patient with man, and as “the day of the Lord” draws nearer and nearer, He continues beckoning humanity to Himself.

However, while God’s love, mercy, and patience are very enduring, His warnings about a great judgment coming upon the earth are to be taken very seriously. Those who refuse to bow their knee to Jesus Christ will suffer severe and eternal consequences—make no mistake, that day will come:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:7)

Jesus said, in referring to His return “of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matthew 24:36). But He also said that while we will not know the exact hour and day of His return, we should be watching for the signs of the coming tribulation period. Throughout the centuries, Christians generally thought they were living in a time when Christ’s return was imminent based on natural disasters, wars, upheaval, and prominent military leaders (e.g., Napoleon). But never in the history of humanity has occultism and mysticism been unleashed as it has now.

Many think that the New Age movement is only a fairly recent manifestation of the last few decades. But I believe that the words of the prophet Isaiah reveal that New Age spirituality was even around back then, although not called that. And he links this Ancient Wisdom in with the end of the age period. Isaiah issues a stern and fearsome warning:

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. (Isaiah 47:12-13)

The next verse describes the judgment that these will be subjected to:

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. (Isaiah 47:14)

And in Revelation 9:20-21, it discloses:

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries.

The Book of Revelation explains that there are those who in the latter times “blasphemed the name of God” and “repented not to give him [God] glory” (Revelation 16:9) and again, “repented not of their deeds” (vs. 11).

These verses that speak of sorceries portray the “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) that is being judged during the tribulation period because its adherents are claiming to be God, and they refuse to give Him the glory but rather take it upon themselves. This will be the ultimate test revealing who the real God is.

This word “sorceries” used in Revelation comes from the greek word pharmakaia. The word is translated into four meanings.:

1) the use or the administering of drugs2) poisoning3) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it4) metaphorically the deceptions and seductions of idolatry

I want you to realize the significance of this. The Bible is clear that sorcery will be a pervasive practice, to the point of being epidemic during “the day of the Lord.” And this is what is now called the Ancient Wisdom by its proponents! The occultist Alice Bailey said that the Ancient Wisdom would be at the very root of her new vital world religion, which she proudly proclaimed would be universal.

Scripture is very clear that sorceries are practices that will be judged by God. Traditionally throughout the centuries, sorcery has been practiced by a very small number of persons (i.e., occult or kept secret). But now we have a virtual explosion of sorcery through various practices and pronouncements (Yoga, contemplative, meditation, Reiki, mindfulness, Oneness Blessing, etc). What I am talking about is a whole world like the psychic slave girl in the Book of Acts.

From Genesis to Revelation, the pages are filled with God’s warning to mankind when he refuses to acknowledge that the Lord is God and man is not. And throughout these pages are stories of those who mocked and scorned the warnings brought by God’s messengers. The apostle Peter referred to this scenario:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3: 3-4)

Many people today believe it is wrong to talk about and warn of an endtime, apocolyptic time period. Rather, they say, we should spend time meditating and employing our higher powers to reach happiness and enlightenment in life. We each have a choice to make. Do we seek after this consciousness, or do we humbly call upon the living God and accept His free gift of salvation and eternal life?

If you don’t already, I pray you will come to know the true Christ (Jesus Christ) before it is too late. I cannot emphasize enough the vital importance of understanding and believing the following verse:

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)

By saying this, Jesus made clear that it was by Him and not a mystical consciousness that we are saved. Let me leave you with this. Compare these views below. I pray you will see the difference as I did so many years ago!

I AM GOD! This is THE most basic tenant of metaphysical spiritual understanding.1—A metaphysical teacherYou are God in a physical body.. . .You are all power. . . . You are all intelligence. . . . You are the creator.2—The Secret[T]here is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:21-22)He that hath the Son [not higher consciousness] hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12)

Many people have not grasped what “the gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:13)  is all about—which can be summed up by the following verses:

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one [Adam] many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Romans 5:15)

Salvation is having personal faith and trust in the person and finished work (sacrifice) of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have “peace with God” (Romans 5:1), are “forgiven” (Ephesians 5:4), and are “reconciled” to God (2 Corinthians 5:18) only by Him. That’s where our faith or trust is to be directed.

The notion of achieving Christ consciousness (as offered in the New Age) is just not compatible with being redeemed by Christ’s precious blood. The two just don’t mix. Romans 5:6 says:

For when we were yet without strength [spiritually impotent], in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

A consciousness can’t die for anyone—only a person can. If you “receive not the love of the truth,” as Scripture says, your eternal destination will be determined:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11)

Endnotes:

1. “I AM,” Communicated through Kathy Wilson (The Light of Olympia Newspaper Vol. 1, Number 8, August 1988), p. 7.2. Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, p. 164.

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NEW BOOKLET: All for One and Theft for All—The Fallacy of the Social-Justice Movement

All for One and Theft for All—The Fallacy of the Social-Justice Movement by Carl Teichrib is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 18 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are available. Our booklets are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use. Below is the content of this new booklet. To order copies of All for One and Theft for All—The Fallacy of the Social-Justice Movement, click here.

All for One and Theft for All—The Fallacy of the Social-Justice Movement

By Carl Teichrib

Author’s Note: Volumes could be written on the different historical and philosophical applications of social justice, and we could easily find ourselves lost in a tangled maze of ideologies and nuances. Hence, this booklet seeks to examine the core element of social justice as a current social-economical-political movement.

[W]e must understand that the only road to peace and social justice is socialism. . . . With the exploiting classes there will never be social justice; without social justice there will never be peace.1—Celia Hart, a socialist author[I]t is necessary to understand that every modern theory of social justice is ideological. No matter how reasonable or rational it may be, every modern theory of social justice is the rationalization of the interests of a particular group or class.2—William E. Murnion, a socialist professor[A]ll modern trends point to the specter of a terrifying, bigger and more pitiless conformity.3—Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, political scientist/ philosopher

A boiling, seething emotion rose from my chest into my throat. An avalanche of angry words tumbled from my small mouth. My indignation could not be quenched. A final declaration sounded with thick certainty. “When I’m older, I’m going to do something about this.” I was only about ten years old when I said these words, but I had seen enough to know. Gross injustices had been observed.

I well remember the bitter experience. Me, a sensible farm boy—and my grandparents, owners of a small fabric shop in a sleepy prairie town—had traveled to the claustrophobic city of Winnipeg. The purpose: to visit textile outlets and make purchases of cloth. After two days of warehouses and shop floors, I knew this was the end of the world. Working conditions were deplorable: Too little sunshine, poorly chosen paint colors, and smelly old merchantmen.

“Here’s some candy, kid.” It tasted stale. At one critical point Grandma had to shush me. Didn’t she know? Didn’t anybody care? The lone Pepsi machine we had passed in the darkened hall wore a sign of prophetic importance: “Out of Order.” And I was dying of thirst.

Yes, the textile industry—indeed, the entire business world—was out of order. How could anybody work in these depressing places? Boredom alone had to be killing people; it was killing me!

As we loaded up with fabric and left this urban wasteland, I caught a glimpse of something else. A brick-lined smokestack was silhouetted against the evening sky, and smoke—or steam (it didn’t matter)—was belching forth to choke out nature’s life. That’s when I lost it. Didn’t those people know what they were doing? Didn’t anybody in the government have a brain? Not only was the city a depressing place and the warehouses terrible for workers, but the factories were going to kill everything! When I grew-up, I was going to put a stop to this madness. Others would join in this desire to change the world. We would save the worker from his intolerable slavery and rescue the environment from the hands of greedy merchantmen. Justice, or vengeance, would be served—whether at home or abroad. Grandma soothingly patronized me. Grandpa, lips tight, said nothing.

Bending Minds

Looking back, I marvel. As a young mind, I had a keen sense of “social rights” and “justice.” And I was a prime candidate to have swung to the more extreme side of the leftist camp. In fact, my impressionable mind was already moving in that direction. Unaware that I was mimicking a Marxist approach—social revolution through mass action—I was emotionally convinced that radical surgery was the only recourse. Where had this come from?

My parents and grandparents were no-nonsense farmers and business owners. They worked very hard at their respective livelihoods, were quick to help anyone who needed assistance, and contributed to the local community in different ways—including, on my mother’s part, teaching English to Laotian immigrants (those were the days of the Boat People). Both my parents and grandparents emphasized Christian ethics and values, to stand up for the underdog, and remain independent in the face of peer pressure; “You were born an original; don’t die a copy.”

The church I attended had Mennonite roots but didn’t cater to leftist ideologies. In fact, it had separated itself from a Mennonite denomination in part because of a growing socialist-slant in the larger body. At heart, we were probably the only non-pacifist Mennonite church in the district.

Television? No. At that time, TV consisted of Bugs Bunny on Saturday evenings and Dad trying to watch The Lawrence Welk Show while we kids faithfully re-enacted Wile-E Coyote cliff-falls from the top of the couch. There just wasn’t much time for television.

Public school? This was the late 1970s, and an environmental curriculum was already in play. In the local high school, The Environmental Handbook was used as a text, complete with overtly anti-Christian, anti-family, and anti-capitalist rhetoric. The Environmental Handbook, for all practical purposes, was a Marxist/Trotskyite call to radical green action—“nothing short of total transformation will do much good.”4 Other school texts, such as the Prose of Relevance and Worlds in the Making, shaped minds to accept quantum cultural shifts, including the move towards socialist and technocratic ideals.

Elementary school and junior high also witnessed a steady stream of transforming curriculum. I remember hearing about the growing problems of over-population and the destruction of the ecosystem caused by human greed and pollution. Injustice was occurring in different parts of the world. Nuclear annihilation was around the corner. Whether overt or subtle, the message was clear: The old ways of how society functioned could no longer be tolerated. Too much was at stake, and it was up to my generation to fix the world’s problems. Whether the teachers knew it or not, we were being shaped to change the system. Thus, a variety of cultural and social alternatives entered the classroom—including Marxism. The mood of my childhood education was shaped by what had occurred less than a decade earlier.

The late 1960s and early ’70s was a hinge time for Western society, and the ripple effect spread far and wide. This was the era of the New Left, with its vanguard techniques and its challenge to cultural norms. Radicalism clashed with conventionalism, the drug culture blossomed, and Eastern forms of spirituality entered the mainstream. In America, the welfare or “servile state” was greatly expanded, including experiments in community housing. All of this was coupled with the Vietnam War, which first demoralized France and then the United States. During this time, “peace” groups parroted Soviet propaganda; capitalism was equated with “war mongering” while socialism reflected equity and peace. The liberal-mined West embraced this trend, even though Frederick C. Barghoorn, a Yale professor who had been interned by the Soviet government in 1963, had warned America about the use of “peace” as a method in furthering Marxist ideology. Published one year after his arrest and release, his book Soviet Foreign Propaganda provided an important warning:

It should be emphasized that all of the Soviet leaders, from Lenin and Trotski through Stalin and Khrushchev, strove in their peace propaganda to appeal both to revolutionaries seeking the overthrow of constitutional democracy and to western businessmen, liberals, pacifists, and the general public whose non-dialectic conception of peace was limited to the simple absence of armed conflict.5

Liberals and pacifists of Western nations were viewed as important players in the cause of international Marxism. Their importance came not from an understanding of the Moscow-Hegelian-Marxist program but from their ignorance. Convinced of holding the moral high ground and blinded by a sense of enlightenment, these individuals advanced the Communist agenda by acting on the emotion of the ideal. In other words, they were emotionally drawn to a Marxist-oriented “social justice” cause—the “plight of the worker,” economic and social inequalities, the desire for class-based justice, and the “struggle for peace.” These individuals would then become activists, educators, and cultural trendsetters. And they demanded social transformation that would, invariably, have an anti-capitalist and anti-individualist tone. The boys in Moscow grinned.

The only way of “assuring lasting peace in the world” from the Marxist perspective, explained Barghoon, is the “elimination of capitalism.”6 Peace, solidarity, and justice throbbed with a Leninist heartbeat throughout this turbulent time period. Capitalism, with its emphasis on private property and free enterprise, was considered the prime cause of social strife. Socialism, with its emphasis on community and social order, was the path to progress. This leftist ideology was solidly embedded in education during the 1970s, and from that point on its fingerprints can be observed in practically all major institutional systems, including schools and churches.

Retna Ghosh and Douglas Ray, in the preface to their 1987 book Social Change and Education in Canada, provide a short outline of social theories that shaped modern education. This included Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism, the conflict theories of Karl Marx, modernization, and the concept of human capital with its emphasis on workforce development. Each impacted the Canadian school system, as did technocracy and a host of other philosophies. And while the system may see distinctions in these theories, the classroom was far more blurred. Indeed, any of the above—or a mix of all—shaped the student’s worldview. But rarely did the student understand the ideal behind the curriculum. As Ghosh and Ray explained:

Social change, whether gradual or revolutionary, is inevitable and brings with it new patterns of social interaction. The place of education in this process is both complex and critical.7

For a young mind in the late ’70s bombarded by a host of conflicting educational patterns, the emotional tug attached to exploited social issues seemed the most relevant. No wonder my trip to Winnipeg ended with a Trotskyite call for revolution.

What has any of this to do with “social justice”? Everything.

Catholic Social Justice

In today’s Christian world—and Western culture in general—there’s a myriad of changes taking place, and with it comes new language. “Social Justice” is certainly in the spotlight. Jim Wallis of Sojourners played a huge role in introducing the concept to millions of Christians as did many emergent/progressive figures like Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne and a myriad of others with the help of numerous large Christian publishing companies—all seeking to reframe Christianity in a social-justice context. Today, the Christian Reformed Church has an Office of Social Justice; the Salvation Army has The International Social Justice Commission; and a fast growing number of Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities now have social-justice programs as do many, if not most, denominations and ministries.

But where does this term come from, and what is its dominant history?

“Social justice” appears to have been first employed in the early 1840s by an Italian Catholic theologian and Jesuit, Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio.8 As Daniel M. Bell points out in his book, Liberation Theology After the End of History, d’Azeglio’s concept was “justice as a general virtue that coordinated all activity with the common good.9

The notion of virtue is important, for it brings a flavor of charity. Taparelli’s vision circled around justice as a system of moral norms that included individual rights and the freedom to associate. The greater whole of the community—the “sum total of individual goods”10—would thus benefit. This form of “justice” was also known as economic justice and looked upon wealth redistribution as a coordination of rights. Direct government administration should be avoided wherever possible, for Taparelli recognized the danger of centralization.11

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued his encyclical Rerum Novarum, which dealt with the conditions of the working class, the right to private property, and the workplace relationship. Leo XIII rejected Communism and the greed that arises from an amoral application of capitalism, instead advocating that worker and employer should come to an honest agreement regarding labor and wages. At this point, Catholicism rejected Marxist-based socialism.

Decades later, Pope Pius XI penned his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno. In it, he denounced Communism and at the same time embraced wealth redistribution—the sharing of benefits—as a function of social justice (#57). “By this law of social justice, one class is forbidden to exclude the other from sharing in the benefits.” While this idea started to stretch the earlier limits of Catholic social justice, he at least recognized that all sides of the class divide could be negative players: the rich withholding the wages due the worker, and the worker demanding all from the rich. That aside, the free-market system wasn’t an acceptable means to build a civilization on social justice:

Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes, so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching . . . [F]ree competition, while justified and certainly useful provided it is kept within certain limits, clearly cannot direct economic life—a truth which the outcome of the application in practice of the tenets of this evil individualistic spirit has more than sufficiently demonstrated. Therefore, it is most necessary that economic life be again subjected to and governed by a true and effective directing principle. (#88)

In reading through the encyclical, an unsettling doublespeak emerges. Communism is chastised, yet the free market is evil. In this dialectic, the end result is that “certain kinds of property . . . ought to be reserved to the State.” The “public authority,” according to Pius XI, should maintain ownership of enterprises that advance the “general welfare.”(#114-115). A slide down the slippery slope had now begun in earnest; “social justice” would become the excuse par-excellence in calling for a global collectivist system.

Speaking on Pius XI’s views regarding economic justice, Pope John XXIII pointed out that “man’s aim must be to achieve in social justice a national and international juridical order, with its network of public and private institutions, in which all economic activity can be conducted not merely for private gain but also in the interests of the common good.”12 Furthermore, in 1963, John XXIII advocated a “universal authority” to ensure this “common good.”13

This was the era of Vatican II. Speaking of the changes that occurred during this period, Professor Philip C. Bom tells us, “It could be characterized as a shift from anti-Communism toward pro-commonism of a new world order.”14

In 1965, Pope Paul VI made similar comments at the United Nations, openly suggesting “the establishment of a world authority.”15 Why? Because a world authority is needed to establish and maintain an international “common good.” That same year, Paul VI’s document Gaudium et Spes—Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World—recognized that the Catholic Church has an important role to play in constructing “a peaceful and fraternal community of nations.”(#90) In that vein, he recommended in Section II titled “Setting Up an International Community,” the creation of a Catholic organ designed to promote “international social justice.”(#90). Individualism was upheld in the document, but it must support the greater good. Communistic collectivism in production was considered erroneous, yet a form of social collectivism was deemed necessary. An excerpt from paragraph 65 demonstrates this social-justice relationship:

Citizens, on the other hand, should remember that it is their right and duty, which is also recognized by the civil authority, to contribute to the true progress of their own community according to their ability . . . those who hold back their unproductive resources or who deprive their community of the material or spiritual aid that it needs—save the right of migration—gravely endanger the common good.

Here we see a swing far past the earlier idea of a charitable virtue. The implication is forthright: you will participate. In the context of this particular document, that participation includes the demands of a global community and world civil authority.

Although Pope John Paul II was perceived as more conservative, he too espoused a globally minded social-justice agenda. This was evident in his endorsement of the UN Millennium Development Goals, which gravitate around wealth redistribution. (Note: While the Millennium Development Goals outwardly demonstrate some admirable targets—education, eradication of poverty and hunger, improved health—the methods are suspect.)16 And as the most notable geo-political pope of the twentieth century, John Paul envisioned “a globalization of solidarity.”17 In discussing globalization as a unifying factor, he said:

For all its risks it offers exceptional and promising opportunities, precisely with a view to enabling humanity to become a single family, build on the values of justice, equity and solidarity.18

Furthermore, the U.S. Catholic bishops, operating under John Paul’s reign, were open regarding social justice—“the common good”—in their 1986 letter, “Economic Justice For All”:

The common good may sometimes demand that the right to own be limited by public involvement in the planning or ownership of certain sectors of the economy. Support of private ownership does not mean that anyone has the right to unlimited accumulation of wealth. (#115)

Interestingly, Catholic commentators from all sides of the political spectrum described the bishops’ document as “pro-capitalist.” However, a cursory read demonstrates that “Economic Justice For All” is pro-socialist. Yes, the responsibility of the individual is highlighted and private property is validated. However, it’s the bishops’ economic justice that displays a different set of cards, with its call for collective, government-directed programs aimed at curing social ills. Individuals, therefore, are obligated to participate under government dictates. In other words, if you can contribute to the common good, then you must contribute. This is reminiscent of the Marxist maxim: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Writing for the Journal of Business Ethics, William E. Murnion gives a straightforward assessment of the bishop’s text: “[T]he conception of justice it espouses is . . . clearly socialist, and communist at that.” Murnion conceded that the bishops were not “crypto-communists,” just that their “conception of social justice is indeed identical with the communist principle of justice even though the bishops have arrived at it from a route entirely opposed to Marx’s.”19

Finally, from the Catholic perspective, Pope Benedict XVI amply demonstrated his affinity to social justice through his encyclical Caritas in Veritate. Here, social justice is recognized as an issue of prime economic and political importance, one that goes beyond the free-market approach. According to this encyclical, economic redistribution is justice. The Pope also recommended that the United Nations be reformed, along with the global economy, so that a “true world political authority” would emerge “with teeth.”(#67) Why? To “seek to establish the common good.” (#67).

Although some older Papal teachings uphold private property and reject Marxist socialism, such as Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum, the Roman Catholic hierarchy over the past hundred plus years has increasingly bridged “social justice” with economic and political collectivism. In this sense, the Holy See has become a cheerleading squad for the United Nations’ system of socialist management. As Professor Bom explains in his book, The Coming Century of Commonism, “Slowly, step-by-step, stage-by-stage, the Catholic church-state champions the U.N.’s agenda for a New International Economic Order.”20

Pope Francis, the current pope, openly embraces social-justice concepts and has frequently called for “global wealth redistribution”21 for the common good. He supports the U.N.’s efforts and agendas to control wealth and its redistribution; and in a 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, he exuded socialism (and at times bordering communism) suggesting that capitalism is ineffective and criticized individualism in favor of its opposite, collectivism.

Parallel to the modern Catholic version of social justice is another historical movement giving active energy to the term. And if the Papal idea of social justice found itself on the slippery slope to collectivism, this parallel movement intentionally aimed for the bottom of the hill.

Marxist Social Justice

For generations there has been an activist side to the idea of wealth redistribution. This popular front, with a web of splinter groups, organizations, and fellow travelers, used “social justice” as the rallying cry for cultural transformation. In fact, this movement is very much alive today and continues to use the term as an effective banner. These social-justice flag wavers have been the most vocal preachers of collectivism—the followers of Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, and dozens of other socialist and communist leaders. Communists and social radicals have been, hands-down, the winners when it comes to employing this term. The Socialist International has always used it, as has Trotskyite organizations, Red factions, and a multitude of socialist political parties.

The idea of social justice within a more political context goes back a long way. In 1848, the Society of Fraternal Democrats, an international body that rubbed shoulders with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published a veiled threat against the British system:

Let the privileged classes renounce their unjust usurpations and establish political equality and social justice, and England will have nothing to fear against a world in arms.22

Under Communism, wealth redistribution was to be used for social ends. In this structure, private property for personal gain was viewed as the cornerstone of the class system and was seen as the cause of social injustice and strife. Wealth redistribution, therefore, was aimed at producing a society where all people were economically equal. Hence, the abolition of bourgeois property (that of the capitalist class) was the key component of Communism. Once the proletariat (working class) had attained political power, a more just social system could be birthed.

The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State, i.e., of the proletariat organized as the ruling class; and to increase the total of productive forces as rapidly as possible. Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property.23

This concept of social justice, the raising of an “oppressed” class through the degradation of another class, is a reactionary process based on the arousing of envy. At this base level, and in other respects, Communism is directly linked to the French Revolution—an event that had sparked worldwide revolutionary fervor, and one whose shots are still echoing today. Austrian philosopher and defender of freedom, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, provides historical context:

. . . how many people were murdered or killed in battle because of the ideas of the French Revolution in their various stages, guises, and evolutionary forms, because of the ideas of equality, ethnic or racist identity, a “classless society,” a “world safe for democracy,” a “racially pure people,” “true social justice achieved by social engineering.”24

Weaving the thread of envy and social change, Kuehnelt-Leddihn reminds us:

In the last 200 years the exploitation of envy, its mobilization among the masses, coupled with the denigration of individuals, but more frequently of classes, races, nations or religious communities has been the very key to political success. . . . All leftist “isms” harp on this theme (i.e., on the privilege of groups, minority groups, to be sure, who are objects of envy and at the same time subjects of intellectual-moral inferiorities. They have no right to their exalted positions. They ought to conform to the rest, become identical with “the people,” renounce their privileges, conform. If they speak another language, they ought to drop it and talk the lingo of the majority. If they are wealthy their riches should be taxed away or confiscated).25

This method of arousing envy, often disguised as virtue—“we’re doing this for the poor and oppressed”—is built upon a sense of moral superiority and indignation, which then ferments into loathing and “social action.” At this point, the emotion of the ideal becomes the driver of transformation. Perched on this self-constructed high point, we quickly sanction socialism (the theft of all for the “greater good”). Or, not content by the slowness of socialism, Communism is pursued through revolution (the gutting of one class for the “greater good”). Either way, collectivism is instituted, which is the empowerment of those who claim to guide the general good. In all of this, they say, democracy takes on a purification role, expressed as “Mob Rule.” Whoever controls the biggest mob through the emotion of the ideal is the one who rules. Social change then occurs either through the ballot box or the barrel of a gun. It doesn’t matter: the Mob has spoken; “equality” will be enforced, and we can bask in the “warm herd feeling of brotherhood.”26

Literary critic and former Marxist, Herbert Read, well understood these connections:

Communism is an extreme form of democracy, and it is totalitarian: but equally the totalitarian state in the form of fascism is an extreme form of democracy. All forms of socialism, whether state socialism of the Russian kind, or national socialism of the German kind, or democratic socialism of the British kind, are professedly democratic, that is to say, they all obtain popular assent by the manipulation of mass psychology.27

Over the years, Communist and socialist leaders have rallied the masses with the message of inequality (“oppression”) and the social-justice solution: economic equality, which, they say, will come about and “bring the end of inequalities and establish real social justice.”28 In the current climate of the 2020s, Critical Race Theory has been resurrected and is being introduced to millions (including school children) to help bring about the socialist, Marxist plan for Western society.

In 1898, Eugene V. Debs—later dubbed “America’s greatest Marxist”—equated a collective society, industrial freedom, and social justice.29 A few years later, during World War I, he noted that permanent peace based on social justice wouldn’t occur until “national industrial despotism” was replaced by “international industrial democracy.” Economic profit was anathema to peace, and the ending of war could only come with the ending of “profit and plunder among nations.”30 A new order was needed where one class was striped and replaced by a more progressive and global apparatus.

V.I. Lenin and his gang “came to power with an ambitious program of measures designed to ensure social justice and improve the lot of the poor.”31 Maxim Gorky, a friend of Lenin, couches this in glowing words of endearment:

The heroic deeds which [Lenin] achieved are surrounded by no glittering halo. His was that heroism which Russia knows well—the unassuming, austere life of self-sacrifice of the true Russian revolutionary intellectual who, in his unshakable belief in the possibility of social justice on earth, renounces all the pleasures of life in order to toil for the happiness of mankind.32

The result was disastrous. Mervyn Matthews tells us, “The efforts to banish ‘capitalist exploitation’ had all but destroyed the wealthier classes without benefiting more than a tiny proportion of the poor.”33

But it did benefit Lenin and company. Never mind the mountain of corpses; progress always comes with a price. By 1922, the Russian Revolution had cost the lives of six to ten million.

Decades later in the Americas, Castro summed up the Cuban revolution “as an aspiration for social justice.”34 Che Guevara couched his bloody revolution as an “armed struggle for freedom of rights and social justice.”35 This crude theme is common to all leftist uprisings because it rests in the heart of all leftist ideologies. Socialist author Celia Hart put it this way:

With the exploiting classes there will never be social justice; without social justice there will never be peace . . . Never before has the world needed, as now, to remember November seven [the anniversary of the October Revolution]. Never before must we understand that the banner of Bolshevism never died . . . And let us shout to our enemies, regardless of whether they call us terrorists, that we will not fight for the imperialist war, or for the miserable peace of injustices; we will fight together for the socialist revolution in permanent combat. Workers of the World, Unite!36

It’s a radical call. Today we see social justice linked to a myriad of radical movements, including environmentalism. Nice sounding, morally high terms arise from this Marxist-green marriage: “Eco-justice,” “green justice,” and “climate justice.” How does this look?

In 1990, the Manitoba government, in partnership with UNESCO convened the prestigious World Environment Energy and Economic Conference. The theme was provocative: “Sustainable Development Strategies and the New World Order.” A report was released with the findings, titled “Sustainable Development for a New World Agenda.” Chapter 2, “Towards a Global Green Constitution,” fleshed out a section with the subtitle “Social Justice.” Population control, green energy regulations, and accounting systems that suggested “an official global policy of one child per family” and the “principle of global economic equality” would be central to the “green government,” the text reported. Human rights would also be at the forefront.

“Intolerable attitudes” wouldn’t be tolerated, all in the name of protecting the oppressed. Now, real oppression is evil. Nobody in his or her right mind wants oppression to occur or flourish. But social justice ala collectivism is the most dangerous form of oppression imaginable. Moreover, the truly downtrodden—like the peasants of the old Soviet Union—rarely have their load lightened under social justice. Instead, with the destruction of the creative capital inherent in a free market, the plight of the poor continues. In fact, life often becomes more difficult.

No wonder F.A. Hayek called Marxist-based social justice a “pseudo-ethics”—one that “fails every test which a system of moral rules must satisfy in order to secure a peace and voluntary co-operation of free men.”37

Getting Our Terms Right

“My church has a social justice mandate . . . This is something I support.” Sounds nice, but can you tell me what you mean? The usual response I get, thankfully, centers on feeding the poor, helping at a homeless shelter or safe house, assisting the elderly, working with troubled teens, or supporting an orphanage.

Sorry, that’s not social justice. The dominant social-justice concept for the past 150 years has been centered on the sliding slope of papal-advocated wealth redistribution, alongside a Marxist version of collectivism. Feeding the poor and assisting the helpless, from a Christian perspective, isn’t social justice—its biblical compassion, a generous act of love. Such acts of compassion engage individual lives and are based on the Christian call of loving others more than self. This is the heart of compassion: An individual sees a need and operating out of love, reaches to meet that need. Churches too are to function in a similar manner. A need is evident, and moved by compassion, the congregation works to solve the dilemma. Coercion never enters the picture, nor does a political agenda emerge, nor is a call for economic equality heard.

The biblical parable of the Good Samaritan demonstrates true compassion (Luke 10). A Jewish man has been beaten, robbed, and left to die on the road. Various people pass him by, including the religiously pious. However, a Samaritan traveler sees the individual, and although the Samaritan is culturally alienated from the Jewish man, he recognizes the desperation and individually takes action—dressing his wounds and providing a place of rest and refuge. And the Samaritan pays for it himself without demanding remuneration or compensation, either from the victim, his family, or community, or from the government or ruling class. However, if the Samaritan were a supporter of the dominant theme in social justice, he would have acted with a different motive for different ends. The Samaritan would have used the occasion to lobby for social transformation:

The robbers were really victims of an unjust economic system and had acted in response to the oppression of the capital class.In order to bring justice to this oppressed class and to steer them back to a caring community, equitable wealth redistribution should take place.Who will pay the victim’s medical bills? The community or the rich.

In the social-justice framework, another agenda lurks behind the tragedy: A political/economic cause is piggybacked and leveraged—the cause of economic equality through wealth redistribution. This isn’t about truly helping the victim; it’s about using the victim. Biblical justice, on the other hand, never seeks to dismantle class structures. Evil actions are condemned, but this isn’t specific to a particular social strata. Consider the words of Leviticus 19:15, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect [be partial to] the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.”

In other words, according to the Bible, true justice means we do not show partiality to someone based on whether he or she is poor or is rich, but rather true justice is based on the standards of righteousness that God has put forth in His Word. God made us different from each other. We are unequal in aptitude, talent, skill, work ethic, priorities, etc. Inevitably, these differences result in some individuals producing and earning far more wealth than others. To the extent that those in the social-justice crowd obsess about eliminating economic inequality, they are at war with the nature of the Creator’s creation.

The Bible doesn’t condemn economic inequality. Jesus, Himself, didn’t condemn economic inequality. Yes, He repeatedly warned about the snares of material wealth and especially the love of money; He exploded the comfortable conventionality of the Pharisaical tendency to regard prosperity as a badge of honor and superiority; He commanded compassion toward the poor and suffering. But He also told his disciples, “ye have the poor always with you” (Matthew 26:11), and in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:24-30), He condemned the failure to productively use one’s God-given talents—whether many or few, exceptional or ordinary—by having a lord take money from the one who had the least and give it to him who had the most, thereby increasing economic inequality.

The Lord’s mission was to redeem us from sin, not to redistribute our property or impose an economic equality on us. In fact, Jesus explicitly declined to undermine property rights or preach economic equality act when He told the man who wanted Jesus to tell his brother to share an inheritance with him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you” (Luke 12:14).

I must confess that it’s easy to fall into the social-justice way of thinking. My childhood rant over what I perceived to be injustices showed me, in retrospect, the power of an emotional ideal. Yet, if by some twist I had followed up on my self-righteous emotional outburst and had become a social-justice advocate in the true sense of the phrase, a sad irony would have occurred: In the name of “justice,” I would have promoted socially sanctioned theft. All for one collective, and theft for all.

Let us act with compassion, be charitable, and pursue true justice. Let us be wise in our actions, clear in our language, and honest in our motives.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. (Micah 6:8)

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Endnotes:

Celia Hart, The Flag of Coyoacan, edited by Walter Lippmann in August 2004. Reprinted in www.marxists.org.William E. Murnion, “The Ideology of Social Justice in Economic Justice For All” (Journal of Business Ethics, 1989), p. 848.Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse (Arlington House, 1974), p. 17.Garrett de Bell, The Environmental Handbook (Ballantine Books, 1970), p. 330.Frederick C. Barghoorn, Soviet Foreign Propaganda (Princeton University Press, 1964), pp. 93-94.Ibid. p. 89.Ratna Ghosh and Douglas Ray, Social Change and Education in Canada (Harcourt Brace, 1987), p. vii.Marvin L. Krier Mich, Catholic Social Teaching and Movement (Twenty-Third Publications, 1998), pp. 80-81. See also Daniel M. Bell, Liberation Theology After the End of History (Routledge, 2001), p. 104.Daniel M. Bell, Liberation Theology After the End of History (Routledge, 2001), p. 104.Ibid.Thomas Behr, “Luigi Taparelli and Social Justice: Rediscovering the Origins of a Hollowed Concept”(Social Justice in Context conference; Carolyn Freeze Baynes Institute for Social Justice At: East Carolina University, Volume: 1).Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, paragraph 40.Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, see section 4, paragraphs 130 to 141.Philip C. Bom, The Coming Century of Commonism (Policy Books, 1992), p. 312.Pope Paul VI, talk at the United Nations, October 4, 1965; section 3.The MDGs lean toward a system of international socialism. Check out the speech of the prime minister of the Hellenic Republic at the annual meeting of the Socialist International; https://tinyurl.com/32zetsbe.As quoted by John A. Coleman, Globalization as a Challenge to Catholic Social Thought (Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, 2004), p. 9.Ibid.William E. Murnion, “The Ideology of Social Justice in Economic Justice For All” op. cit., see pages 847-857.Philip C. Bom, The Coming Century of Commonism, op. cit., p. 315.See https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/speeches/2020/february/documents/papa-francesco_20200205_nuoveforme-disolidarieta.html and https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/02/06/tax-the-rich-pope-francis-calls-for-global-wealth-redistribution/.The Chartist Movement: The Fraternal Democrats to the Working Classes of Great Britain and Ireland, January 10, 1848. As republished at www.marxists.org.Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin, 1967), p. 104.Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse (Arlington House, 1974), p. 419.Ibid., p. 18.Ibid., p. 17.Ibid., p. 174.Robert Gellately, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (Vintage, 2007), p. 10.Eugene V. Debs, “The American Movement,” published in “Debs: His Life Writings and Speeches,” and reprinted at www.marxists.org.E. V. Debs, “The Prospect for Peace” (American Socialist, 1916, reprinted at www.marxists.org).Mervyn Matthews, Poverty in the Soviet Union (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 7.Maxim Gorky, “Days With Lenin” (Readings in Russian Civilization, Volume 3, The University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 517-518.Mervyn Matthews, Poverty in the Soviet Union, op. cit., pp. 7-8.Fidel Castro, “When the People Rule,” speech on January 21, 1959, Havana, Cuba.Che Guevara, interview, April 18, 1959. Two Chinese journalists, K’ung Mai and Ping An conducted the interview “on the 108th evening after the victory of the revolution.”Celia Hart, The Flag of Coyoacan, op. cit.F. A. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty: The Political order of a Free People (University of Chicago Press, 1979), p. 135.

To order copies of All for One and Theft for All—The Fallacy of the Social-Justice Movement, click here.

(This booklet was first written in article form by Carl Teichrib in 2010 and has been updated in 2022 for this booklet under publishing contract with Lighthouse Trails.)

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What is the NAR The New Apostolic Reformation is it Biblical

Article by Amy Spreeman at Berean Research The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a dominionist movement which asserts that God is restoring the lost offices of church governance, namely the offices of Prophet and Apostle. Leading figures in this seemingly loosely...

Little Gods in the End Times Battle: Wide is the Gate Volume 3

SYNOPSIS This final Volume features the Hyper Charismatic and Pentecostal Movements represented by a variety of names and leaders. This supposed “new move of the Holy Spirit” coined as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is also known as Third Wave, Manifest Sons of...

10 Signs Mysticism is in Your Church Listed

Mysticism in the Church: 10 Things to Watch For in Your Church Updated & Linked: by Joshua TouposBy Lena Wood & Lynn Lusby Pratt As unsettling changes take place in your Christian environment, you might find yourself in this scenario: 1. In my Christian...

Lighthouse Trails to Send Out 17th Mailing to Christian Pastors and Leaders – This time on: The Chosen Series

In 2016, Lighthouse Trails began been sending out topical booklets three times a year to a growing list of pastors and Christian leaders. This coming week, we will be sending out our 17th mailing to Christian leaders & pastors. Our current list has over 900 names. If you would like your pastor or a church leader to begin receiving these mailings, please send the name and a valid mailing address to us at [email protected]. The names and addresses on this list will remain confidential.

In this March 2022 mailing, we will be mailing out one booklet:

The Chosen Series: 10 Critical Concerns

Note: These mailings cost you or your pastor nothing.* However, if you have just added your pastor to the list and would like him to receive, in addition to this current batch and future batches, some of the booklets we have sent out previously, you might consider purchasing the 15-booklet Pastors Pack. If you do buy that pack, you can put your pastor’s name in the ship-to section of the online order form or our mail-in form. We will send you the receipt and send him the pack. Your name will not be included unless you request it.

For our readers’ information, below is a list of the booklets we have sent out so far:

201610 Scriptural Reasons Jesus Calling is a Dangerous Book (Smith)5 Things You Should Know About Contemplative Prayer (Yungen)Rick Warren’s Dangerous Ecumenical Path to Rome (Oakland)Setting Aside the Power of the Gospel for a Powerless Substitute (Dombrowski)Is Your Church Doing Spiritual Formation? (Editors)

2017The Shack and It’s New Age Leaven (Smith)Yoga and Christianity: Are They Compatible? (Lawson)A Serious Look at Richard Foster’s “School” of Contemplative Prayer (Yungen)The New Missiology: Doing Missions Without the Gospel (Oakland)Shack Theology: Universalism, TBN, Oprah, and the New Age (Smith)

2018Israel: Replacing What God Has Not (Oppenheimer)D is for Deception: The Language of the “New” Christianity (Reeves)Mindfulness: What You May Not Know and Should Have Been Told (Kneas/Putnam)Lectio Divina: What is it, What it is Not, and Should Christians Practice it? (Editors)A Course in Miracles: The New Age Book That is Redefining Christianity and Fooling the World (Smith)Oprah Winfrey’s New Age “Christianity”: Neale Donald Walsch, “God,” and Hitler (Smith)The Jews: Beloved by God, Hated by Many (Pearce)

2019Eugene Peterson’s Mixed Message: Subversive Bible for a New Age (Smith)The New Evangelization From Rome or Finding the True Jesus Christ (Oakland)Transgenderism and Our Children (Kneas/Putnam)The Dangerous Truth About the Social Justice “Gospel (Danielsen)The Big Picture: How the World and the Church Are Being Deceived (Smith)Dominionism, Kingdom Now, and What Does the Bible Say? (Oppenheimer)The New Age, Meditation & the Higher Self (Yungen)Butterfly Illusions (Reid)Broken Vessels for Christ (Ironside)

2020The Enneagram—An Enlightening Tool or an Enticing Deception? (Putnam)Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work (Editors)S is for Social Justice The Language of Today’s Cultural “Revolution (Danielsen)Three Vital Questions on Navigating Discernment (Ironside/Proctor)

2021The Titanic and Today’s Church – a book (Smith) Six Questions Every Gay Person Should Ask (Michael Tays Carter)Yoga: Exercise or Religion—Does It Matter? (Yungen)Beth Moore & Priscilla Shirer: Their History of Contemplative Prayer (Lanagan)

(photo: from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)

*We will not put the names on this special list on any other mailing list or give or sell them to anyone ever.

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Wide is the Gate: Rise of The New Evangelicalism (Social Gospel Origins)

Wide is the Gate Volume 2 Video Documentary Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto...

The Global Church Network: Is It a New Age Path to “Back-door” Ecumenism?

LTRP Note: The following report by Cedric Fisher highlights the significant influence of New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet in the Global Church Network (which involves huge numbers of denominations and ministries – perhaps even yours).

(photo from a 2-second clip of a YouTube video; used in accordance with the U.S. Fair Use Act)

By Cedric FisherTruth Keepers

This article is about the largest pastor’s network, also called a church, that appears to have the goal of becoming the global church. Professing Christians should know that there must be a one-world government to fulfill the prophesies of Revelation 13. They should also know that there must also be a one-world church or religion to compose the False Prophet’s kingdom. 

Thus, when a rapidly growing entity fraught with heresy and New Age/Christianity, joined by over 2500 denominations and ministries, including many heads of denominations, notorious politicians, journalists, and other secular icons, rises up to loom over all the other church networks, it is significant. I took a closer look at this network. This article presents some of my discoveries. I concluded that it is a dangerous organization based on Leonard Sweet’s influence alone. Why are the heads of denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Church of God, Nazarene, et al, joined with this network?

Standing as a Goliath among the rapidly rising trend of church global networks is the Global Church Network (GCN). GCN was originally called Billion Soul Movement with the goal of winning one billion souls. James Davis, co-founder of Billion Soul, stated, “The Billion Soul movement is about placing the global vision in the hot halls of hell and announcing to every demonic force: A BILLION SOULS WILL BE SAVED IN OUR GENERATION! It is about emptying hell to fill up heaven.”[1]

Click here to continue reading.

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God Calling and Jesus Calling Series Books on becoming a Medium Exposed

Quotations from the God Calling Books and the Jesus Calling Series From Amos37, we highly suggest you download the eBooklet below and view the comparison of quotes and the grotesque amount of Occult methodology intimated throughout. Very well researched by Chris...

Rick Warren’s Past and Present Troubling Socialist & New Age Connections Continue

Letter to the Editor: Rick Warren’s Past and Present Troubling Connections Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace. (Ezekiel 13:10) Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. (Ezekiel 7:25) And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon … [Read more…] The post Letter to the Editor: Rick Warren’s Past and Present Troubling Connections appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Research Project. …

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PRE-WRATH RAPTURE REFUTATION PART II

IS APOSTASY/APOSTASIS AND APHISTEMI PHYSICAL OR SPIRITUAL? And Does the Greek word for Apostasis (Apostasy or Abscess) refer to the Rapture Departure or Departure from The Faith?  By James Sundquist "I think you are on the precipice of uncovering the smoking...

MTV Awards the Occult

MTV Illuminati VMAs Exposed

The Denial of Creator

The Greatest Lie Ever Told

How Propaganda Works

How Propaganda Is Used Today

Hunger Games Occult Symbolism

Mockingjay ILLUMINATI Symbolism

Welcome to Amos37 Ministries Occult Info Page

We have made a portal for our users to jump to many apostasy topics.  So what are occultists hiding from us in plain sight?  Occultist Alice Baily said the Simply click on any of the images to go to learn prophecy topics. Studies on the End Times, Signs, The Great Apostasy, The Occult Explosion, Israel & Islam, Gog & Magog, Wars, Studies on Revelation, Daniel, and The Rapture of The Church.  Videos and articles on a wide range of topics are found on this page.  We will try to update this page weekly with cutting-edge prophecy news updates.  Try our search feature in the upper right.  Our artists have keenly incorporated images to help you get a quick overview of topics.

Some of the Latest Articles from Vigilant Citizen (Support Them)

 

Recognizing Syncretism

Apostasy is defined as “an abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; a total desertion or departure from one’s faith, principles, or party.” An effective method Satan uses to induce biblically sound ministries to go apostate is syncretism. Syncretism is a “compromise in religion” or “uncritical acceptance of conflicting or divergent beliefs or practices.”

Yoga in The Church?

Many believe they can practice yoga postures, breathing, and focusing techniques devoid of yoga’s spirituality, not realizing that yoga is an inherent part of Hindu philosophy which teaches man and nature are one with divinity. So why is it so popular and what should we know?

Contemplative Spirituality

How will the One World Religion come about, or is it here already? Ray Yungen discusses the advent of The Mystic Revolution. Mysticism is a bridge for all religions to coexist. Ray discusses how the mystical explosion is setting the stage for the One World Religion.

Oprah & The Occult

Oprah claims to be a Christian. She claims that there are millions of ways to God. She has believed the original lie. The Rapture of the Church could come and millions will believe a lie.  See also related article on  Doctrines of Devils Highlighted is the use of occult methods in Hollywood to angelic visitations that have spawned many of the largest religions in the world. A lot of content and video for your learning.

Rick Warren New Ager?

It is with great difficulty we present this article. It has become increasingly difficult to understand Rick Warren muddled approach to Church. We may write him off as a Social Gospel (Another Gospel) Galatians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 11:4 or is he just out there. This latest pluralistic blending of Eastern Mysticism with the Church as well documented below shows Rick Warren is a wolf in Sheep’s clothing Rick Warren’s UN connections, Tony Blair Faith Foundation (Fabian Socialist) and now Three New Age Mega teachers. RUN!

New Age in The Church

Warren Smith discusses the New Age and it’s explosive growth in the Church. Oprah, Joel Osteen, Brian McLaren, and Rick Warren have all helped further the dreams of occultist Alice Bailey to use the Church to herald the coming of the New Age by using “…occultism awakening the mystical faculties”

Another Jesus Calling

Warren Smith has just published a new book “Another Jesus” Calling: How False Christs Are Entering the Church Through Contemplative Prayer (Lighthouse Trails, 2013). In this book Smith analyzes the “God” of God Calling (2005) and the “Jesus” of Sarah Young’s book Jesus Calling. Both this “God” and this “Jesus” have remarkably similar messages.

Word of Faith Errors

Word of Faith Teachers: Origins & Errors.  Are you or someone you know a follower of the likes of Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, or T. D. Jakes etc? This film takes a responsible look at the major doctrines which separate this movement from historic biblical Christianity.

Alice Bailey The Plan

Alice Bailey and had a plan to use the Church called “The Plan”. Oprah, Joel Osteen, Brian McLaren, and Rick Warren have all helped further the dreams of occultist Alice Bailey to use the Church to herald the coming of the New Age by using “…occultism awakening the mystical faculties”

What is Dominion Theology?

The concept of this dominant church (Dominion theology) may seem appealing. But is it scriptural? The bulk of the evidence says that it is not. But the theology goes far beyond this. Drawing on Romans 8:19, which talks of the “manifestation of the sons of God”, they make the quantum leap into Mormon Theology, where they believe we will not only undergo a translation into immortalization (see Hamon quote above) but moreover we will become divine.

Cult of Liberalism

The Church has always been under pressure and the swift decline in from a Christian Europe and a Christian America is stunning.  Liberalism in the Church is the Most Dangerous Cult today.  Why Study Prophecy?  Isaiah 46: 5-10. Declaring the end from the beginning!

Freemasonry & Christians

So is Freemasonry truly an evil enterprise or is it harmless fellowship?  Why are there so many professing Christians who are Masons?  Is there a connection between Masonry and Islam?  What is actually going on at that Masonic lodge in your hometown?  Dr. Ron Carlson and expert on cults and some current celebrities involved in Masonry today.

What is The Emergent Church?

A look at how Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Tony Campolo and a host of Emergent Church leaders.  Use the Language of Apostasy, echoing The Serpent (Genesis 3) “has God Said?”  Godly men have warned a generation ago of these dreamers of dreams.  See origins of Liberal Theology here.

What is Social Justice?

The first to co-opt “Social Justice” was Egyptian Islamist writer Sayyid Qutb[3] who, in 1949, published “Social Justice in Islam” featuring collectivism (as opposed to transcendence) as its foundational concept.  His thesis attracted the endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood whose leader Amin Al-Husseini[4] (The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) had colluded with Adolf Hitler (as of 1933) to eradicate the Jews from the world.

Bill Johnson & Bethel Church

By combining signs and wonders with a false Christology that denies the deity of Christ, Johnson has placed his followers in the center of end-time deception. Now rather than the one “Anointed One” (Jesus Christ who is unique), there are many “anointed ones” who supposedly can do greater miracles than Jesus. This situation is described in the Bible as departing from the faith.  2 Timothy 4

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