SysOp's Arsenal/SysOp's Arsenal 1 (Arsenal Computer).ISO/govwatch/spirit.txt

Text File | 1994-05-22 | 38.9 KB | 640 lines

Does America need
a new spirituality? (6/94)

    The following is from Christian Crusade Newspaper, P.O. Box 977,
    Tulsa, OK 74102, in its 42nd year of publication. We can
    be E-mailed on America On Line as Christcrew, on Compuserve
    at 72204,541, and via the Internet as [e-mail] .

by Keith Wilkerson, editor
      A new spirituality is emerging.
      Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Instead, it
has everything to do with manipulating the masses.
      The Soviet Union's founder, V.I. Lenin, hated religion because he
said it was it was the "opiate of the masses," lulling mankind into
complacency. He tried to destroy it. Instead, man's insatiable hunger
for a relationship with his Creator destroyed the Soviet Union.
      Now these new manipulators of mankind see faith and belief as
tools. Instead of destroying religion, they are figuring out how to use it
for their own means. Of course, this is nothing new. Unscrupulous
power mongers throughout recorded time have abused mankind's
faith over and over. The Borgia family of 15th and 16th Century Italy
established a reputation for wickedness and treachery -- manipulating
the papacy and elevating their own to the Vatican, the corrupt Pope
Alexander VI.
      In modern times, we have all seen the rise of cult leaders, such as
Guyana's cyanide Kool-Aid killer, the evil Jim Jones, who cared only
for his own maniacal agenda as he led hundreds of men, women and
children into mass suicide -- all believing fervently that he was the
Messiah.
      More recently, Turkish assassin Mehmet Ali Agca has proclaimed
himself to be Jesus Christ, as have Charles Manson and David Koresh.
      But now history is repeating itself.
      A dangerous new, counterfeit spirituality is putting on a righteous
face and emerging as the answer for an American society gone
violently and perversely mad.
      "Some of the nation's more perceptive liberals are beginning to
suspect that they missed a bet in ceding the whole religious aspect of
life to the conservatives," writes columnist William A. Rusher. "Indeed
they did; but can they now reverse themselves and contest that
terrain successfully?"
      There are those among the social engineers remaking America
who are beginning to say among themselves that the American public
needs to believe something. A little fear of divine wrath could restore
civil order in sections of America's cities that have become war zones
after dark. A little conscience might prompt people to obey the law.
      After all, it is much easier to govern people who consent to be
governed.
      So, such liberal spokesmen as Norman Lear -- people who have
devoted their lives to removing Jesus Christ from American life -- are
saying that re-inserting spirituality is needed now. It could hold our
disintegrating society together.
      What the social engineers need is something watered down that
sounds religious, something mystical and full of mystery that makes
everybody feel really devout, and certainly something that is politically
correct, yet fulfills everybody's yearning to be at peace with God.
      "We need to make room in the culture for a public discussion of
our common spiritual life," says Norman Lear in a guest column in
the Washington Post. "We need to rediscover together what is truly
sacred."
      "Re-discover?" chuckles conservative columnist Charles
Krauthammer. "For most Americans there is no need to rediscover
the transcendent. They live with it.
      "But for the 94 percent of Americans who believe in God and the
nearly half who go to church on Sundays, there is no need to
rediscover anything," says Krauthammer. If such statements were
being made by anybody other than Norman Lear, "this might be
dismissed as yet another Beverly Hills bubblehead pronouncing
himself in the Age of Clinton. But Norman Lear is no ordinary
Hollywood liberal." No, Lear is the "founder of People for the
American Way," a liberal advocacy group. One of its passions is the
strict separation of church and state.
      "Having succeeded grandly at stripping public life of religion,"
writes Krauthammer, "they wake up one morning surprised to
discover that our common life is spiritually empty. Their solution -
some newfangled, New Age, new spirituality - is a guilty and pitiful
substitute for what they have wantonly dismantled."
      In his bestselling book, The Culture of Disbelief, Yale law
professor Stephen Carter notes that his fellow liberals have
mistakenly treated "religious beliefs as arbitrary and unimportant, a
trend supported by a rhetoric that implies there is something wrong
with religious devotion."
      Liberals, he says, must quit treating religion as "something quiet,
something private, something trivial" -- rather akin to "building model
airplanes." He blames the Democratic defeats of the 1980s on such
foolish disdain for the power of religious beliefs.
      Carter has the ear of President Bill Clinton -- who has
recommended that all his cabinet members read the book and take its
advice to heart. But the ear of Hillary Clinton is guru Michael Lerner's.
He is the inventor of the term "politics of meaning." A rabbi, he edits
Tikkun, a magazine dedicated to Jewish liberalism, recently declared
that "our economy rewards the self-centered and the selfish," and
called instead for "a newer paradigm of caring and concern."
      Hillary quoted Lerner when lecturing 14,000 listeners at the
University of Texas on "what our real challenges happen to be." She
said America today suffers from "a sleeping sickness of the soul," a
"sense that somehow economic growth and prosperity, political
democracy and freedom are not enough -- that we lack at some core
level meaning in our lives and meaning collectively. What do our lives
in today's world mean? We need a new politics of meaning."
      "Thus," writes Rusher, "she joins the long succession of political
leaders from Marx to Mao, who ever since the Enlightenment have
been offering their own versions of the truth as substitutes for the
outdated prescriptions of religion."
      Former Education Secretary William Bennett says Hillary's
"politics of meaning,'' is nothing more than warmed-over socialism.
      Bennett said it is "shocking'' that Lerner's philosophies are being
treated as something new, because "this is standard sophomore stuff.
I do not know if Mrs. Clinton took a philosophy course at Wellesley
College or not. If she did, chances are she would have had a professor
at the time she went who would have already told her this stuff. She
should be reading the Federalist Papers, not Michael Lerner."
      The Federalist Papers, of course, were 85 newspaper essays that
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote explaining
the new Constitution of the United States to a skeptical American
public.
      "Lerner has defended his philosophy as a call for the left to
recapture the values issues that have long been embraced by
conservatives and the religious right," writes Chuck Raasch of the
Gannett News Service. He asked Lerner about a New York Times
Magazine cover story which said Hillary was pursuing "the politics of
virtue,'' believing that her generation is "destined (and equipped) to
teach the world the errors of its ways.''
      Lerner bristled at the "virtue'' label, said Raasch. He said he and
Hillary Clinton were merely acknowledging a "thirst" among
Americans for spirituality, as well as a desire for an "ethically and
spiritually based community.''
      It may seem to be so much liberal babbling.
      But Hillary has hit a nerve. America is searching for answers --
searching everywhere but at the foot of the cross.
      "Call it a spiritual renaissance. Call it a desperate search for purpose
in a troubled age. Call it New Age yearning hitting mainstream
publishing," writes Joannie M. Schrof in the April 25 edition of U.S.
News and World Report. "Whatever the explanation, a swelling
number of American readers are becoming spiritual seekers of sorts,
turning out like never before to devour books that promise insights
into the meaning of life."
      She goes on to cite a bestseller's list of New Age books which all
peddle the humanist theme that the serpent first tried out on Eve in
the Garden of Eden -- that we can all be gods. First, we must rebel
against the idea of a great Creator, refuse to be pushed around by His
jealous, arbitrary and unbending rules. Then, we will begin our
evolution into a higher creation.
      In the publishing world, the New Age gospel is a hodgepodge of
contradiction and gobbledegook with every paperback philosopher
offering his or her own key insights into celestial enlightenment.
However, the reading public loves it -- exploring every new and
exciting alternative to the only true way to happiness, personal
submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
      There is a recurring theme: society's need for spirituality.
      A current bestseller is The Celestine Prophecy by Alabama writer
James Redfield. His stated mission is to help humanity evolve into a
spiritual culture. The book sits in the No. 1 slot of virtually every
bestseller list in the country. Warner Publishing executives say
demand for the book is heavy. The publisher has already sent stores
some 570,000 copies and plans another print run any day.
      Among the messages in the book is the suggestion that humans
who increase their "spiritual energy'' enough will become invisible
and able to pass into Heaven at will.
      Readers like public school psychologist Gael Smith in Seattle aren't
put off by such absurdity. "Even the ideas I don't agree with are
thought provoking, and most of the insights ring true for me,'' Smith
told U.S. News and World Report. She heard about the book from a
friend at church.
      Does it matter that the book is at odds with Christian beliefs?
      Smith sees no contradiction. She has bought five copies and says
that each copy she lends is quickly passed on to others rather than
returned.
      Why does she like the book?
      "We're all running scared these days, with violence, turmoil and
high anxiety all around. The book offers hope that life is more than a
series of random things that can't be controlled.''
      Of course life is not random!
      Yes, violence, turmoil and high anxiety are terrible!
      But the answer is not to turn to false gospels that deceive us with
absurd promises! The same sort of stuff fills another current
bestseller, Embraced by the Light, the story of one woman's near-
death experiences and the lessons about God and life she garnered
from them.
      Although her messages run at total odds to Christian truth, her
book has held the No. 1 spot on the Publishers Weekly magazine
nonfiction bestseller list for 13 weeks.
      Tragically, the book sits at the front of many bookstores in
prominent display among all the other hot, fast-selling New Age
paperbacks, such as Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love, which
teaches the reader how to perform miracles.
      Never mind that the Bible is plainly clear that any miracle
performed outside of God's power is sorcery and witchcraft -- and is
despised by the Almighty. Why? Because any power that does not
come from Him instead is a gift of Lucifer designed to deceive and
confuse men into believing there is a happy and powerful alternative
to submitting one's life to Jesus Christ.
      Yes, there is an alternative.
      But it is known as the Lake of Fire. Hades. Eternal damnation.
Spiritual death, forever separated from our loving, mighty Creator.
Hell.
      Why is there such interest in this new, godless paganism?
      Why are millions of Americans interested in books that the
Apostle Paul in Ephesus of Bible times would have told new believers
to burn?
      "The people reading these books are folks who can't trust their
neighbors but want to believe it's possible to forge a society of
enlightened individuals who are full of goodwill for each other," says
Stan Madson, owner of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood,
California, a New Age bookstore with a mailing list of 39,000 for its
quarterly book review and catalog. He says the recent rush for such
books reflects Americans' hunger for transformation.
      Arianna Huffington, author of The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the
Soul, proclaims the dawn of a new awareness, writing, "In the whole
of human history there have never been so many avenues to inner
consciousness being explored nor anything remotely approaching the
proportion of people seeking such avenues for themselves.''
      What exactly is the New Age movement?
      Your first exposure to it probably came 25 years ago at the height
of the Haight-Ashbury counter-culture as a few kids in the streets
protested America's involvement in Vietnam and the entertainment
industry proclaimed that we were all supposed to smoke dope.
      Your first brush with the New Age movement was probably the
song, "Aquarius" by a singing group called "The 5th Dimension." The
popular hit was from the Broadway musical Hair. Believe it or not, it
outlines the basic statement and outward goals of the New Agers. The
song declares the coming "Age of Aquarius." Delving into astrology --
which many Christians forget is also forbidden in the Bible -- the song
tells us that when the moon is in the "seventh house" and the planet
Jupiter becomes aligned with Mars, "then peace will guide the
planets" and love will fill all of our hearts. This, promises the song, is
the dawning of the age of Aquarius. It is happening all around us,
insists the song.
      If you are not involved with the New Age movement, this song
may have sounded to you like so much wishful thinking. However,
there exists in the world today an incredibly huge and well organized
network consisting of thousands of groups, trusts, foundations, clubs,
lodges, and religious groups whose goal and purpose is to prepare the
world to enter this Age of Aquarius. A small sampling of only a few of
the organizations heavily influenced by the New Age mindset
includes: Amnesty International, Zero Population Growth, California
New Age Caucus, New World Alliance, World Goodwill, The Church
Universal and Triumphant, The Theosophical Society, Planetary
Initiative for the World We Choose, and the Club of Rome. This list
demonstrates the diversity of organizations operating in economic,
political, and religious spheres of influence.
      The false gospel that is woven into their philosophy is the lie that
mankind is evolving into a higher being and that peace, joy and
contentment will result. While this sounds great, it simply will never
happen.
      The philosophies of the New Age movement have inflicted a new
self-centeredness, a new belligerence and new false expectations for
mankind upon society in general and political liberals in particular.
      Man is not improving. Just visit the streets of America's big cities
if you want proof. Go to Lebanon or Bosnia if you think things are
getting better because the moon is in some mystical house and one
planet is aligned with another.
      So, how do the New Agers explain the failure of their world view?
      Easy! They explain it the same way that the liberals explain the
total failure of big government programs such as the War on Poverty
or the collapse of the economies of Eastern Europe's socialist states.
What is their explanation? We need to try again, but with more
commitment!
      How will this be done?
      Centralized government will force New Age policies onto us
whether we like it or not! Of course, the reasoning goes, when the
new system is a glorious success, the resistance will subside and
humanity will be immensely grateful that mankind has been saved.
      Depending on which branch of the New Age movement you
encounter, there may or may not be a great mystical world leader who
will emerge to lead us all to enlightenment. Some New Agers
fervently await the advent of the Lord Maitreya. Others believe we will
all become so godlike that we will not need any leaders. Either
viewpoint, of course, flies in the face of Scripture. If a leader emerges,
he could well be the Antichrist, an enemy of mankind who will be
intent on leading the world into terrible rebellion against God and who
will be destroyed along with his followers by a grieved but wrathful
God.
      What about our all becoming little Gods? Remember what Lucifer
told Eve as he seduced her into eating from the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. He promised her that she would become godlike -- and
that a nasty, unsharing tyrant Creator was denying her the chance to
evolve into a higher being.
      So, this false message is nothing new! It is the same old rebellion
against God!
      How do the liberal political forces dedicated to making all this come
about intend to bring it all about? Just look at the agenda of the United
Nations! Stated goals of the New Age Movement are to establish a
World Food Authority, World Water Authority, World Economic
Order, and an entirely New World Order.
      Sound familiar?
      Yes! Not so long ago, a conservative President that we all trusted
startled quite a few of his faithful by declaring his delight that the
Persian Gulf War had ushered in a New World Order in which all
nations would work together to preserve global peace.
      A key phrase mentioned throughout New Age philosophy is that
of "Christ Consciousness." Many Christians are deceived when such
fine words are used. After all, how can anything called "Christ" be evil?
      Unfortunately in the twisted propaganda of the New Agers, Christ
is a state of mind rather than one person, the Son of Almighty God,
our risen Lord Jesus Christ. The New Agers have embraced an ancient
Gnostic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth was not the only Christ, but
that He equipped Himself to receive the "Christ Consciousness."
      So did Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed, say the New Agers.
      They teach that throughout history, humanity's evolution has
been guided by a group of enlightened men, the Masters of Wisdom.
They have remained largely in the remote desert and mountain places
of earth, working mainly through their disciples who live openly in
the world.
      At the center of this "Spiritual Hierarchy" stands the New Agers'
World Teacher, Lord Maitreya. He, say the New Agers will fulfill
Christian expectations of the Second Coming, the Jews' hopes for the
coming of their Messiah, the Buddhists' teaching that "the fifth
Buddha" will come to lead the world, the Muslims' expectations for
the emergence of "the Iman Mahdi," and the Hindus hope that their
blue-skinned child-god, Krishna, will return to lead the world. The
New Agers say that Krishna, Christ, the fifth Buddha, the Messiah, and
the Imam are all names of one individual who is about to show up and
usher in an era of world peace.
      His presence in the world guarantees there will be no third World
War, they say.
      The traditional view of Lucifer as the devil is clearly absent in New
Age literature. Rather, he is described as a mighty being of light and
the "Ruler of Humanity," according to Alice Bailey, foundational apostle
and leading writer of the New Age movement. An even clearer
description is given by perhaps the most influential man in the
movement, David Spangler. He writes in his book, Reflections on the
Christ that "The true light of Lucifer cannot be seen through sorrow,
through darkness, through rejection. The true light of this great being
can only be recognized when one's own eyes can see with the light of
the Christ, the light of the inner sun."
      In Spangler's terrible heresy, he declares with a straight face that
"Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we
move into a new age, which is the age of man's wholeness, each of us,
in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic
Initiation, the particular doorway through which the individual must
pass if he is to come fully into the presence of his light and his
wholeness."
      What will happen in this initiation?
      Are we talking about accepting the Mark of the Beast on our
foreheads?
      Spangler says that with this initiation "Lucifer comes to give us the
final gift of wholeness. If we accept it, then he is free and we are free.
That is the Luciferic Initiation. It is one that many people now, and in
the days ahead, will be facing, for it is an initiation into the New Age. It
is an initiation of leaving the past and moving into the new, shedding
our guilts and fears, our anxieties, our needs, our temptations, and
becoming whole and at peace because we have recognized our inner
light and the light that enfolds us, the light of God."
      Incredibly, many of the leaders of the New Age movement
wholeheartedly embrace Lucifer -- the terrible fallen angel who led
the rebellion against God and was cast out with a third of the angels.
      There is only one historically reliable and enduring source where
the true identity of Lucifer may be found, and that is in the Bible. In
the Bible, the book of Isaiah, Lucifer is identified as a great angel who
thought to exalt himself above the Most High God, and for that he was
banished from Heaven and came to be called Satan. Again, if you are
skeptical concerning the Bible's description of Lucifer, you will find in
Anton Le Vey's Satanic Bible a list of "infernal names" for Satan. This
list includes Kali, Lilith, Pan, Shiva, and Lucifer. In Revelation is found
the following passage:
      "And he causes all, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to
receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead; and that no
man might buy or sell, except he who has the mark, or the name of
the beast or the number of his name."
      It is very probable that the above scripture accurately portrays the
final visible manifestation of Spangler's "Luciferic Initiation." When
you add together the propagation of the number 666, the acceptance
and worship of Lucifer (who is Satan), and the requirement of a
Luciferic initiation to enter the New Age, we see all the ingredients for
the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy concerning the reign and terror of
Satan through the world ruler Antichrist. Diabolically, as we have
previewed, Antichrist will not at first appear in this manner, but as a
great benevolent spokesman with the solutions to the world's
problems, deceiving many into pledging their support to him and his
program. .
      Then, when it is too late for the followers of Antichrist, Satan will
show his contempt and hatred for the human race and will release his
wrath upon all mankind, and, in so doing will also be playing a part in
carrying out God's own judgment and wrath upon those "who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness" and who "exchanged the
truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." .
      But he is painted in glorious terms by the New Agers. They say
that Christians have lied about him for centuries and they, the New
Agers, are tired of it.
      Benjamin Creme, a leading lecturer and proponent of the New
Age, says "Lucifer came from the planet Venus 18.5 million years ago;
he's the director of our planetary evolution, he is the sacrificial lamb,
and the prodigal son. Lucifer made an incredible sacrifice, a supreme
sacrifice for our planet." .
      Creme also seems to use the name "Sanat Kumara"
interchangeably with Lucifer. The only difference in the description is
that in place of the name Lucifer, Sanat Kumara is used. Creme
further adds that "Sanat Kumara is our God."
      Thus we have a clear picture of who Lucifer is according to some
of those at the forefront of the New Age Movement. They believe he
is a mighty, benevolent being of light, the Ruler of Humanity,
mankind's inner guiding light.
      My friends, these claims are lies.
      They are dangerous.
      They are insidious.
      They will get believers nowhere but into the Pit of Hell with
Lucifer and all who follow him in rebellion against our King of Kings,
Lord of Lord, Almighty Father, the Prince of Peace.
      "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits," we
Christians are warned very, very plainly in 1 John. We are not to
accept every new teaching that comes our way. Instead, we are to test
"whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out
into the world. By this you know the spirit of God; every spirit that
confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit
that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of
God.
      "And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was
coming, and is now already in the world. We are of God. He who
knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we
know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Whoever believes that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
      How do we fight against the false spirituality today being
proclaimed from the White House? Paul warned us clearly, "We do not
fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and
spiritual wickedness in high places." Such is the case of the new
spirituality.
      We are to fight on our knees.
      We are to pray for Bill Clinton. We are to pray for his Machiavellian
wife. Hillary did not invent the New Age spirituality.
      It was just in the right place at the right time when she needed
something.
      We are to love Bill and Hillary and earnestly intercede for them in
prayer, believing that they can know the truth and that it can set
them free.
      This nation is in terrible danger from idealists who are so
convinced that their agenda of change is the answer to America's
problems.
      However, their changes demand scrutiny.
      I believe that many times idealists are used by the unscrupulous
who need to put a gentle face on a harsh agenda.
      I believe we are also in terrible danger from greedy power
mongers who see an enormous opportunity in Hillary's and Lear's
and Lerner's pleas for a new spirituality.
      They also know that certain liberals are perfectly willing to cram
this new spirituality down our throats. There are some who would not
hesitate to enforce it at gunpoint.
      These power mongers see the new spirituality -- the New Age
gospel with all its hocus-pocus -- as a magnificent way to manage the
masses.
      The governed must stop rioting in the streets of their own free
will -- not because armed troops forced them to quit doing so. They
must want to return to their homes and be happy that they are doing
so.
      A new, false "opiate of the masses" is being prepared that will calm
the minds of the millions and make them more manageable, more
productive, and more useful.
      Beware of the new spirituality. It is false.
      And you and I must hold onto what we know to be true.
      Any belief in promises of "Christ Consciousness" is a denial that
Jesus is, as the Bible proclaims, "the Christ." New Agers make no
bones about their denial of our Lord's deity. They become sarcastic
and even hostile at the notion that He is the Only Way or that no man
can come unto the Father, except through Jesus.
      They will smile and assure you that Jesus received the Christ
Consciousness at His baptism, and that it left Him at His crucifixion.
The New Agers say He was a Master of Wisdom, an ordinary man who
equipped Himself to receive the Christ Consciousness.
      Of course, this is not true.
      The real Jesus who lived on this earth told His disciples: "These are
the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. Thus it was written, and
thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead
the third day, and that the repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
Before Jesus was crucified, He asked His disciples this question: "Who
do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus answered and said to him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in Heaven."
      Thus Jesus personally testified that He was the Christ, not a Christ.
He was THE Christ. Who do you say that He is?
      He wants to know. Your eternal destiny hinges on what you
believe concerning this vital question.
      "Who do you say I am?" Jesus Himself asks you in Luke 9:20. The
question was first asked of Peter by Christ nineteen centuries ago,
and has continued since then to the present day to be the best test of
spirituality.
      "Perhaps never in the history of mankind has this question been
more relevant than it is today," according to the Christian Research
Journal. "One reason for this is that New Agers have taken the New
Testament sculpture of Christ, crafted an esoteric/mystical chisel, and
hammered away at this sculpture until a completely new image has
been formed.
      "The new sculpture is one that fits nicely on a display shelf with
sculptures of Buddha, Krishna, and other 'holy men.' This Christ is
broad-minded and nonjudgmental. He is a 'Master' among 'Masters,'
who -- with the others -- is leading the human race into a New Age of
enlightenment and harmony."
      However, the real truth is that Jesus alone is the Christ. Not
Buddha. Not Krishna. Not Mohammed. According to Matthew 1:23, as
a babe in Bethlehem, Jesus is called Immanuel, "God with us." When
the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in Luke 2:11,
he identified Jesus this way: "Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Simeon, who was filled with
the Holy Spirit, recognized the babe Jesus as Christ in fulfillment of
God's promise to him that "he would not die before he had seen the
Lord's Christ."
      1 John 2:22 warns us: "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies
that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist -- he denies the
Father and the Son." Jesus is uniquely and exclusively man's only
means of coming into a relationship with God. Jesus asserted in John
14:6: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the
Father, but through Me." A bold Peter proclaimed in Acts 4:12 that
"there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under
Heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved." Paul likewise affirmed that "there is one God, and one Mediator
also between God and men, Christ Jesus."
      Jesus Christ will come again in glory. In contrast with the New Age
idea that the coming of Christ is contingent on man's ability to
prepare the earth spiritually for this coming, Scripture says that
Christ is coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and man has
power neither to invoke His coming nor to prevent it, according to
Revelation 19:16.
      Our true Christ is the Christ of the gospels. The many miraculous
signs He performed attested to His supreme identity, not some divine
potential we all possess: "These [miraculous signs] are written that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in His name," declares John 20:31.
      It is Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, that we as Christians
look forward to seeing. According to Titus 2:13, "We wait for the
blessed hope -- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ." And, as Christians, we exult in the truth that Jesus has a
name that is above every name, and that at His name, every knee will
bow -- in Heaven and on earth and under the earth. My friends, I have
a simple explanation for the "new spirituality" being proclaimed by
the political liberals. It is nothing more than what old-time preachers
denounced from their revival pulpits as worldliness wrapped in the
mysticism of paganism.
      Worldliness is a radical individualism which displays a kindly
attitude toward Satan's evil world system and manifests itself in self-
centeredness, self-advancement and self-autonomy. A worldly
Christian willfully displaces the rule of God in his life, embraces the
radical individualism of Satan and gratifies his lusts outside of the will
of God. As Christians, according to 1 John 3:4-9, we "are to be on guard
against a kindly feeling toward the world's evil, and are not to establish
intimate relations of loyalty with it." Prolonged relations are evidence
that he is a member of Satan's kingdom.
      The scope of worldliness is far more inclusive than the list of do's
and don'ts we normally establish and label "worldly." John says our
associations may sparkle, our convictions may shine and I can still get
up and sing a solo or preach a message--yet still have a worldly,
prideful heart.
      This does not mean that believers should declare something akin
to an Islamic jihad against our worldly neighbors. Instead, those who
are part of the world system should have every opportunity to view
Christians as contributors to the civil, social, intellectual and spiritual
well-being of the community. You and I are commanded in Romans
13:1 to "be subject unto the higher powers." We must be loyal
citizens.
      You and I are compelled to "do all to the glory of God," according to
1 Corinthians 10:31. Thus, we are supposed to be valuable and loyal
employees. Luke 19:10 tells us we are supposed to emulate the Lord
who came "to seek and to save that which was lost."
      God's Word makes it clear that the world will regard us with hatred
and view a holy life-style with hostility. Christ warned in John 7:7 that
the world would hate Him. We are told that it will also hate the
believer. "Hatred is characteristic of the world, as love is of the
Christian," says 1 John 3:14.
      The world will persecute us, John 15:20 warns. The spirit of the
world prefers darkness to light, according to John 3:19-21. In that,
John 12:31 tells us that the judgment of the world has already taken
place, it is utter folly for you or me to establish bonds of loyalty to its
doomed system.
      It is no surprise then that the Christian is commanded in 1 John
2:15 to "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world."
James 1:27 tells us to keep ourselves "unspotted from the world."
Christ has chosen us "out of the world," according to John 15:19. Even
so, John 17:11 tells us that for the present we must still live "in the
world." John is not calling for monastic separation from the world but
for an inner attitude of separation from the sinful world and its
practices.
      The slogan of the liberal National Council of Churches was
formerly, "The World Sets the Agenda for the Church." Well, the
world cannot set your agenda or mine -- or else the love of the Father
is not in us, according to 1 John 2:15. James 4:4 says loving the world
makes us the enemy of God. 1 Peter 2:11 tells us we are strangers and
pilgrims in a world which is passing away. Not only must you and I
resist the seduction of the world, but we are supposed to overcome it,
according to 1 John 4:4-5.
      God told Adam in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:16-17: "You are
free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will
surely die."
      But man in his disobedience to the words of God ate the fruit from
the tree and allowed sin and death into the world, says Romans 5:12.
      So we see that whenever we disobey the Word of God, we sin.
      this is why the world is so full of unhappiness, sorrow and pain.
Adam and Eve did their own thing. They decided what was right and
wrong. They thought happiness could be found apart from God.
      But God says in Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to
a man, but in the end it leads to death."
      It is not God's will for anyone to perish and spend eternity in Hell,
which the Book of Revelation assures us is a place of punishment for
all who have not had their sins forgiven. But God wants you and me to
spend eternity with him in Heaven.
      But there are many people today who believe just like Adam and
Eve did -- that they can do as they please and God will accept them the
way they are. But God says something completely different. Jesus
Christ is the only way to God and eternal life, according to the
Scriptures.
      Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects
the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
      And that is why the New Age teachings are false. Compromise will
not work in religion. We cannot put aside the truth of Jesus just
because it offends the Muslims or the Hindus. We cannot agree to
worship their gods in the spirit of multiculturalism. Nor can we stand
idly by while our children are taught that New Age mysticism or TV
paganism is to be embraced if they are to be "citizens of the global
village." Sorry, we are to be strangers and aliens of such a place.
      Politically, it might make sense to get rid of the divisive dogma that
Jesus is the only way and instead force the masses to accept a new
religion that accepts all beliefs, calms the crowds, and gets the
workers back into the factories so that they can pay their rents and
keep up with their interest payments.
      But Jesus is the key to God's promise to all mankind. That is why
Satan hates him so -- and has devised this sort of a devious political
agenda to paint Jesus as an enemy of world peace and international
harmony.
      The new spirituality is bogus.
      And that is why that we must with new vigor and sincerity pray for
the deceived and confused leaders of this nation.
      The truth can set Bill Clinton free.
      And you, too.

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN CRUSADE NEWSPAPER?
            Christian Crusade Newspaper is in its 42nd year, has
    a worldwide circulation and is published by Christian
    Crusade, P.O. Box 977, Tulsa, OK 74102.
            It is mailed to subscribers without charge as a result
    of the conviction of its founder not to put a price-tag on the
    gospel. For a free subscription, just ask.
            Although Dr. Hargis no longer travels, editor-in-chief
    Keith Wilkerson accepts speaking invitations. Both can be
    E-mailed on America On Line as Christcrew, on GEnie as
    K.Wilkerson3, via the Internet as [e-mail], and
    on Compuserve at 72204,541.