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MAITREYA THE COMING – THE SECRET

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THE SECRET

(Part 3)


MAITREYA THE COMING

A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2014, All rights reserved 2

This report is the property of Rema Marketing and is considered to be strictly for reading only. With receipt of this report, the recipient acknowledges and agrees that written permissions must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this report, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. A publication of Rema Marketing. ©2014, All rights reserved.


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MAITREYA THE COMING PART 3: THE SECRET

Nightingale Conant is probably the world’s largest producer of personal development and training material covering a range of categories including personal development, business strategy, wealth building, mind and body, spiritual growth and sales training. Three of their most well known packages are from Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Deepak Chopra who have in their materials made statements which clearly underline their religious beliefs and ideas about the world. Anthony Robbins in his book “Unlimited Power” gives an account of when he was aspiring to be successful and make massive changes to the direction is life was heading, he took decisive action to change from being overweight. He said every day he would run for miles shouting in his mind “I am One with God, and God is everything.” Is this the Secret knowing that you are God?

1 THE LAW OF ATTRACTION 4 2 GURUS OF THE MODERN PANTHEISM 11 3 ALL ROADS LEADS TO NORMAN VINCENT PEALE 13 4 SIR JOHN TEMPLETON: CHAMPION OF UNITY 19

5 ROBERT SCHULLER: ADVOCATE OF NEW THOUGHT 24 6 A COURSE IN MIRACLES 26


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1. THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne, based on the earlier film of the same name. It is based on the law of attraction and claims that positive thinking can create life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, and happiness. The book has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 46 languages, but has attracted a great deal of controversy, as well as being parodied in several TV programs.

The book is called The Secret, but it didn’t remain a secret for very long. There seems to be no end to the public’s interest in this message presented by Rhonda Byrne. Some call The Secret a transformative message. Others see it as a popular combination of marketing that parallels the success of The DaVinci Code with the message found in Eastern religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. Whatever it is, it has exploded in our culture ever since Rhonda Byrne’s first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The Secret has been promoted as “a feature length, historic and factually based account of an age old secret” which is said to be four thousand years in the making and “known to only a fortunate few.” The DVD and the book reveal “this great knowledge to the world.” Supposedly it is the secret to wealth, the secret to health, the secret to love, relationships, happiness, and eternal youth.

The basic premise of The Secret was borne from the troubles that affected Rhonda Byrne. She is a television producer and mother in her fifties. A number of years ago she “hit a rocky patch in her business and personal lives.” Her father died suddenly and her relationships with her family and work colleagues were in turmoil. It was at that moment of despair when she “wept and wept and wept” that she discovered a long-neglected book entitled The Science of Getting Rich.

In the book she discovered how to let your thoughts and feelings give you everything that you desire. She then dedicated herself to sharing these principles with the world in the form of The Secret. Many have called it marketing genius. After all, all of us want to be in on a secret. So why wouldn’t we all want to know the secret to life? That is what Rhonda Byrne promised in her DVD. Torchlights flicker on the 90-minute DVD and the soundtrack throbs portentously before it gets down to giving you the secret for getting your hands on that new BMW.

Its success shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, many self-help authors have become celebrities and quite financially successful by addressing American’s desperate need for happiness and significance. Several show up as contributors to The Secret. For example, Wayne Dyer has written nearly thirty books on the subject of self-help. His 1976 book, Your Erroneous Zones, has sold over thirty million copies. Jack


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Canfield is best known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. There are currently over 115 titles and 100 million copies in print.

Rhonda Byrne’s book and DVD on The Secret supposedly bring together “the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. These pieces are brought together to produce this life-transforming message. While it is passed off as new and exciting, there are many other teachers who preceded The Secret with a similar message. Charles Fillmore, who founded the Unity School of Christianity, talked about “The Twelve Powers of Man,” arguing that the causes of all things are “essentially mental.” Norman Vincent Peale is best known for his The Power of Positive Thinking. Deepak Chopra talks about “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.” Motivational speaker Tony Robbins believes “it’s our decisions, not the conditions of our lives that determine our destiny.”

Rhonda Byrne not only relies on people she calls the guardians of The Secret, but also upon a documentary released a number of years ago called What the Bleep Do We Know? The film makes all sorts of metaphysical claims based upon their particular interpretation of quantum physics.

According to Rhonda Byrne, the key element of The Secret is what is called “The Law of Attraction.” You can summarize the law with three words: “Thoughts become things.” In other words, if you think hard enough about something, it will take place. Think good thoughts, and you will reap good things. Think bad thoughts, and bad things will happen to you. You create your own circumstances, and you can change those circumstances with your thoughts.

A central teaching of “The Law of Attraction” is that nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts. Thus, everything that surrounds you right now (both good and bad) has been attracted to you. As you focus on what you want, you are changing the vibration of atoms of that thing so that they begin to vibrate to you. Ultimately, you determine the frequency or vibration so that you can best acquire wealth, health, and fulfillment.

Do you want something? Then you need to focus on it. In one segment in the DVD, a kid who wants a red BMX bicycle cuts out a picture of it from a catalog. He concentrates on it and even obsesses about it. He is rewarded with a bike. Do you want to lose weight? Do the same thing. Rhonda Byrne talked about the


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weight she gained after her pregnancies. But once she applied “The Law of Attraction,” she realized her error: “Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight.” Do you want to get healthy? Visualize health. One woman in the DVD claims to have cured her breast cancer in three months without chemotherapy or radiation. She claims she did this by visualizing herself well and watching funny movies on television.

The incredible popularity of The Secret illustrates the spiritual hunger in our culture. But while people are hungry for spirituality, they are not willing to attend church to be fed spiritually. Instead they go to the bookstore and buy this book or DVD along with other books dealing with spirituality. A buyer for West Hollywood’s popular metaphysical bookstore, The Bodhi Tree, said that DVD of The Secret had “become the biggest selling item in the 30-year history of our store.” Why has it become so successful? Here is what a writer for Time magazine concluded:

“Mixing the ancient conspiracy hoodoo of The DaVinci Code with the psychic science of 2004’s cult hit What the Bleep Do We Know?, it interweaves computer graphics, historical recreations and interviews with “experts” into a study of “intention-manifestation” – the philosophy that contends our emotions and thoughts can actually influence real-world events. In other words: if you really, truly believe you can beat the lottery and visualize scratching off a winning ticket, you can do exactly that.”

The appeal of The Secret is understandable. People want to be wealthy and healthy. In Christian circles this concept is known as “name it and claim it,” where the individual simply professes a desire and then claims that God will provide it. This is a Christianized form of an occult "truth.” Ms. Byrne and her Master Teachers are more than willing to use scripture to make their point. They ask us to turn to Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24 where Jesus tells His disciples, ”Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” A common mistake made by those who jump on the metaphysical bandwagon is that they often overlook the whole counsel of scripture. It is instructive that Ms. Byrne did not ask her readers to consider James 4:3 where the writer says,

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

The question the Christian should be asking himself at this point is this: How does one ask correctly?

Verse 4 offers us a glimpse of God’s truth.

“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

James then draws our attention to verse 10 where it says,

“Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

The implication here is not for us to command God to act because of our asking or believing, but to allow him to exalt us because of our humility. This teaching would not fit very well within the context of Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret.

According to Ms. Byrne, our feelings are our greatest tool to help us create the positive things in our lives. She says, ”Your thoughts are the primary cause of everything.” She continues by stating, ”Your thoughts determine your frequency, and your feelings tell you immediately what frequency you are on.”

Ms. Byrne says that we are the most powerful transmission tower in the Universe. In simple terms, all energy vibrates at a frequency. Being energy, you also vibrate at a frequency, and what determines your


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frequency at any time is whatever you are thinking and feeling. All the things you want are made of energy, and they are vibrating too. Everything is energy.” Ms. Byrne states that one of the most magnificent teachings of The Secret is that

“You are energy, and cannot be created or destroyed. Energy just changes form. And that means You! The true essence of You, the pure energy of You, has always been and always will be. You can never not be….When you are feeling good thoughts, it is communication back from the Universe saying, ‘You are thinking good thoughts.’ Likewise, when you are feeling bad, you are receiving communication back from the Universe saying, ‘You are thinking bad thoughts.’”

Our feelings about something turbo-charge our outcome. In other words, we can purposely use our feelings to transmit an even more powerful frequency, by adding feeling to what we are wanting. Michael Bernard Beckwith clarifies this concept by stating,

“You can begin right now to feel healthy. You can begin to feel prosperous. You can begin to feel love that’s surrounding you, even if it’s not there. And what will happen is the universe will correspond to the nature of your song. The universe will correspond to the nature of that inner feeling and manifest, because that’s the way you feel.”

In other words, don’t allow your perceived reality to convince you otherwise, but step out and create your new reality by simply saying it is so and the Universe (God) will bring it about. Essentially, we are seeking a god to do our bidding as we command.

Marci Shimoff, another of the Master Teachers, makes this observation:

“Once you begin to understand and truly master your thoughts and feelings, that’s when you see how you create your own reality. That’s where your freedom is, that’s where all your power is.”

The Bible offers a different exhortation to the Christian at this juncture. We read in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Our purpose is not to use our thought life to enhance ourselves, but to bring our thought lives into obedience and submit ourselves to a holy God. This thought is totally absent from The Secret!

Shimoff adds that we should consider if the Universe is a friendly place for us to hang out. Ms. Byrne says that knowing the Law of Attraction, we would have to say that the Universe is, indeed, a most friendly place where we can create our own reality. The Secret (and New Age thought in general) encourages its adherents to practice affirmation as a way to channel one’s thought life to a place where it will benefit the individual. Ms. Byrne suggests the following affirmation:

“This is a magnificent Universe. The Universe is bringing all good things to me. The Universe is conspiring for me in all things. The Universe is supporting me in everything I do. The Universe meets all my needs immediately.”

Lisa Nichols, also a Master Teacher, informs us that the first step to achieving our desires is to ask.

“Make a command of the Universe. Let the Universe know what you want. The Universe responds to your thoughts.”

Nichols continues by stating that the second step in achieving all that we want is to believe. “Believe that it is already yours. Have what I love to call unwavering faith. Believing in the unseen.” In the moment you ask, and believe and know you already have it in the unseen, the entire Universe shifts to bring it into the seen. In other words, God/The Universe immediately tunes to your frequency and then because of the Law of


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Attraction, he is obligated to supply all your wants. Vitale makes another head-scratching comment when he states,

“The Universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you. You don’t need to know how it’s going to come about. You don’t need to know how the Universe will arrange itself.”

The third step according to Nichols is to receive that which we have commanded. Nichols states that an important part of our receiving is for us to feel wonderful about it. Beckwith comments,

“This is a feeling Universe. If you just intellectually believe something, but you have no corresponding feeling underneath that, you don’t necessarily have enough power to manifest what you want in your life. You have to feel it.”

The premise that mankind and the impersonal Universe are interconnected is widely taught within occultic, New Age, literature. They teach that all-is-One. Man is an integral part of The Supreme Mind and he is seen as being one with it, to the point that he is the source of the Universe.

The concept of an impersonal energy or force that is the “Universe” is not a new thought. It has been around for a long time and has been recognized in numerous belief systems that do not reflect God’s truth. Gary Zukav teaches that we should trust the Universe because it is working toward our best and most appropriate end. He adds that if we do trust the Universe it will provide all that we desire: “Let your higher self complete its task”. In other words, allow the Universe (God) to complete its work in you as you come to fully realize that your “Higher Self" is the Divine Teacher.

Wayne Dyer helps clarify the role that the Higher Self plays in our understanding of who we truly are. In his text Your Sacred Self, he makes this observation:

“When you consult your higher self, you learn that you are a part of the same divine essence that connects all of us to the source of spirit. There is one God, one source with many different manifestations.”

Dyer says that we relate to others in terms of the divineness that is flowing through them, which is a manifestation of the energy supporting the physical world. On the path of the sacred way, you experience that force flowing through you and others. He declares that we short-circuit the manifestation of our Higher Selves (the divine spirit within) when we practice a toxic lifestyle. A toxic lifestyle would be one that denied man’s personal divinity. Dyer goes on to say, “To allow your highest self to triumph in this conflict between purity and toxicity, you must let go of any idea that at your core you are evil or a sinner.”

To sum it up Ms. Byrne makes this observation,

“So whichever way you look at it, the result is still the same. We are One. We are all connected, and we are all part of the One Energy Field, or the One Supreme Mind, or the One Consciousness, or the One Creative Source. Call it whatever you want, but we are all One.” The message of The Secret is plain for all to see: “You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as you. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet.”

Rhonda Byrne and her Secret Teachers have played their metaphysical hand close to their vest. However, they have allowed their secret teaching to come through on occasion. Ultimately, yielding your life to the Universe and discovering your Higher Self implies that you must at some point submit to its deepest presence.

Ms. Byrne confides that


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“To love yourself fully, you must focus on a new dimension of You. You must focus on the presence inside of You. Take a moment and sit still. Focus on feeling the life presence inside you. As you focus on the presence within, it will begin to reveal itself to You. It is a feeling of pure love and bliss, and it is perfection. That presence is the real You.”

Ms. Byrne offers her viewer and reader a sure-fire avenue to connecting with the “Presence” within. She states without reservation that all teachers in her film and in her book use meditation to quiet their minds so they can be in full harmony with the Universe. She says every teacher uses meditation as a daily practice. She then adds that “it wasn’t until I discovered The Secret that I realized how powerful meditation can be.”

To hear the Master Teachers of The Secret tell it, one would think that discovering one’s Higher Self or inner teacher is the high point of spiritual or self discovery. In her book The Possible Human, Jean Huston makes this observation regarding the Presence. Ms. Houston is guiding her students through an exercise and she tells them that

“In the room is a Master Teacher of the skill—this person or being is your Master Teacher, and in the time that follows this teacher will give you deep and potent instructions to help you improve your skill. The Master Teacher may speak in words or not. Teachings may present themselves as feelings. However this being works with you, the learning on your part will be effective and deep. Once you become familiar with your Master Teacher and begin to trust and act on the advice and knowledge that is imparted, you will find it increasingly easy to have access to this kind of deep learning . . .”

Houston fully discloses the true nature of this inner Presence that Ms. Byrne alludes to. Apparently unable to contain her enthusiasm, she further states,

"The Master Teacher is a potent reminder of our inner ‘allies’ and may often provide much more teaching and wisdom than we had intended when we set out on this journey. And the exercise may also lead you to the discovery that the inner realms have their own subtle machinations for guiding you . . . we must also listen to them, for they have urgent messages to send us. If we cooperate with them—that is, with our own deepest knowing—we begin to notice an astounding change in our lives.”

The incedible significance of her mention

In an interview with Quantumtouch, the interviewer Julie makes a point regarding the global impact of the film. Ms. Byrne responds by saying that The Secret is contained in all the ancient wisdom, no matter what philosophy. It is buried within every one. On the surface this statement sounds quite innocent, but her actual meaning goes much deeper. The idea that this “wisdom is buried within everyone” is an indicator that this belief is about our true divine nature.

One of the Master Teachers of The Secret, John Demartini, expounds by saying,

“We have a magnificent inner calling, vision, mission, power inside us that we are not honoring and harnessing. This movie brings it to the forefront that we can [harness that power].”

The premise of this idea is that we all have a divine essence within us, and we just need to get in touch with it. In other words, as panentheists teach, God is in all of creation, including all human beings, and once a person becomes aware of this, there are no limits to what he can achieve.

As mentioned previously, The Secret is revealed through some of the most high-profile individuals of our day. They include such notables as Jack Canfield, author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. Jack is a thirty-year veteran of metaphysics and helps individuals achieve their personal goals by helping them understand the Law of Attraction.


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Another teacher is Neale Donald Walsch, known for this book trilogy Conversations with God. He, too, is a student of metaphysics and teaches that man is divine. John Gray is best known for his popular book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. These teachers speak with one voice. Their message is brief, yet simple: You create your circumstances; if you live in lack it is your fault; you are an expression of divinity; in fact, you are God. Another of The Secret teachers is Fred Alan Wolf, a physicist. He makes a profound statement on The Secret web site: “You! I want to tell you something. You are God in disguise.”

Of the twenty-four Secret Teachers, perhaps the most troubling is Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith. He is the pastor of Agape International Spiritual Centre in California. His message is that we are co-creators with God and that our abilities are unlimited. Our potential is divine in nature. Dr. Beckwith is troubling because he represents a pseudo-Christianity. He has the greatest ability to be used to deceive those whom God has touched by his Gospel. The Christian who is unable to rightly discern God’s Word will fall prey to such false teaching as found in The Secret.

So what is it that The Secret teaches that would be harmful to the Christian? In her section on acknowledgements Ms. Byrne lists several names that stand out as instructive. One name, in particular, is Charles Fillmore, the founder of Unity School of Christianity along with his wife Myrtle. Unity is a classic New Age belief system that teaches the divinity of man. Eric Butterworth, a former Unity minister, in his book Discover the Power Within You, underscores the New Age premise that Jesus taught the divinity of mankind. Butterworth is of interest because Oprah Winfrey proclaims he is her spiritual mentor.

Perhaps the most revealing of the occult connection between Rhonda Byrne and her stable of Master Teachers is Ester Hicks who channels a non-physical being named Abraham. Hicks is but one thread in the occult pattern that emerges in teachings of The Secret. Hicks’ story is similar to that of Helen Schucman, the channel of A Course in Miracles.

Deception always comes packaged in a veneer of truth. Otherwise it would not be acceptable! The Secret is no different.


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2. GURUS OF THE MODERN PANTHEISM

Nightingale Conant is probably the world’s largest producer of personal development and training material covering a range of categories including personal development, business strategy, wealth building, mind and body, spiritual growth and sales training. Three of their most well known packages are from Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Deepak Chopra who have in their materials made statements which clearly underline their religious beliefs and ideas about the world.

Anthony Robbins in his book “Unlimited Power” gives an account of when he was aspiring to be successful and make massive changes to the direction is life was heading, he took decisive action to change from being overweight. He said every day he would run for miles shouting in his mind “I am One with God, and God is everything.” In another quote he says he used to repeat the following affirmation,

“God's wealth is circulating in my life. His wealth flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All my needs, desires and goals are met instantaneously. For, I am One with God, and God is everything.”

Technically from a Christian perspective there may not seem anything wrong with such a statement at first glance since if we are in Christ we are in the Father as well. However such a statement clearly is coming from a completely different context as one digs into the motive behind such statements.

Robbins quotes from a variety of religious sources, including the Bible, he also cites Buddhism, other religions and religious figures, and, on a number of occasions, American transcendentalist writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. Merely quoting such sources does not suggest explicit endorsement of everything they believed, but, when taken as a whole, the citation of non-Christian sources does not bode well for the exclusive claims of Christ and Christianity.

For instance, when Robbins praises A Course in Miracles, a book that is overtly at odds with the Christian message, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to fit such citations into the framework of theism, much less Christian theism.

Given the lack of emphasis on truth and the variety of citations from contradictory religious sources, Robbins appears to be a religious pluralist. This means that he is not concerned with the truth or falsity of any particular religion, but instead seems to view all religions as valid so long as they “empower” and “strengthen” the adherent.

Robbins’s primary emphasis, however, comes across as sympathetic to Eastern religious ideas. Specific phrases and ideas are also reminiscent of “New Age” spirituality such as when he writes, “Your reality is the reality you create.” One of his Twitter posts quotes Taoist philosopher Lao-tzu: “There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart.”

Ron Rhodes has written of Robbins:

“In his books he approvingly cites Eastern and New Age types like Marianne Williamson, Bernie Siegel, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Confucius, Mahatma Gandhi, Emmet Fox, and A Course in Miracles. Other New Age indicators involve his use of Native American chants, and his idea that mystical secrets locked in the right side of the brain can be unleashed using his techniques.”

Robbins’s religious eclecticism is also, as Rhodes observes,

“in keeping with his New Age leanings. On a number of occasions, he acknowledges many ‘great teachers’— including Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, and Lao-Tzu.”


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Brian Tracy is another prominent, influential speaker and seminar leader, Tracy, promotes the use of the “superconscious mind” (i.e., the higher self), “to improve productivity, performance and output” in the corporate world. In one of his packages called “The Luck Factor” there is an instance when talking about affirmation where Tracy states that you should write your affirmations down on paper and read them out loud every day and put them under your pillow at night so that

“Universal forces will be triggered which will bring about your affirmations to reality”

Again like Robbins, Tracy actively quotes from the Bible and other religious sources, specifically on the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi and others.

Deepak Chopra is by far the most overt in terms of his religious beliefs. Chopra is an Indian-born, American physician and writer who previously taught at the medical schools of Tufts University, Boston University and Harvard University. He became Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH) in Massachusetts, before establishing a private practice. He has written more than 65 books with 19 New York Times bestsellers. His books have been translated into 35 languages and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Chopra has received many awards, including the Oceana Award (2009) the Cinequest Life of a Maverick Award (2010), Humanitarian Starlite Award (2010), and the GOI Peace Award (2010). He is thought by some to be "one of the pre-eminent leaders of the mind-body-spirit movement".

Chopra has been even more avid in his promotion of New Age ideals. In his book The Third Jesus he states,

"about the consciousness of Jesus which was in touch with the source of all creation. If you can aspire to be at one with that consciousness, then you too can be in touch with the source of all creation.”

Chopra has also stated

"When your truth is aligned with the Truth of universal consciousness, you are living your dharma...living a blissful existence. You are "surfing the wave of Truth" - letting it propel you into the next phase of your life while it delivers the thrill of the present moment."

This “Christ Consciousness” philosophy is not just as a concept of Chopra. Dr. John Jay Harper, executive director of the American Delphi Academy, Spokane, Washington, USA, and author of Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century states,

“In summary, the truth is all creation is contained within the Mind-Body of God. There is nothing "outside" to God as God is the center and circumference of the cosmos at once—omnipresent. God is in constant contact with every atom and all life forms via the zero-point field and its DNA "messenger molecules" and this truth then establishes the bedrock for all science of soul wisdom teachings. In other words, to be a Christ means to possess Cosmic Consciousness and thereby be able to access the knowledge of heaven on earth. And as Alan F. Alford of Walsall, England heartily declares: "Ancient sages believed that the future destiny of mankind lay in a return to the Source, i.e. to God and Heaven. The death of the body, they said, did not mark an end but rather a critical mid-point in the human existence. Those who had the secret knowledge could retrace the path to the Heavenly Source and enter the gates to the lost paradise." Now that is the deeper meaning to the Lord’s Prayer: "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven!" A-men.”

Robbins, Tracy and Chopra are just three gurus that have been singled out but the personal development world is filled with many other such gurus championing a form of psychology which also comes with a spiritual undertone. In fact their teachings in some cases contain concepts that you will also find across some of the biggest Christian ministries.


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3. ALL ROADS LEADS TO NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

Norman Vincent Peale is perhaps the most widely read author of "positive thinking" and of the role of the "subconscious/unconscious" mind. By the time Peale wrote The Positive Power of Jesus Christ in 1980, he had already influenced millions through 24 books, Guideposts magazine, and Plus: The Magazine of Positive Thinking. One does not have to look far to discover the true source of Peale's theology. Peale once wrote the foreword to a psychic's book. He has also endorsed The Jesus Letters, written by two Connecticut women who claim to have made contact with a communicating entity self-identified as Jesus of Nazareth. Peale said of this occultic automatic writing: "It little matters if these writings come from Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus of Jane [co-author Jane Palzere], they are all the same consciousness and that consciousness is God. I am a part of God, and Jane [is] part of that same God."

Peale died on Christmas Eve, 1993, at the age of 95. He was one of the most popular preachers of the twentieth century. His famous book The Power of Positive Thinking has sold almost 20 million copies in 41 languages. It was on the United States best-seller list for a full year following its publication in 1952 and has been in print continuously ever since. Peale pastored the Marble Collegiate Church, a Reformed Church in America congregation in New York City, from 1932 until 1984. At the time of his retirement the church had 5,000 members, and tourists lined up around the block to hear Peale preach. For 54 years Peale’s weekly radio program, The Art of Living, was broadcast on NBC. His sermons were mailed to 750,000 people a month. His popular Guidepost magazine has a circulation of more than 4.5 million, the largest for any religious publication. His life was the subject of a 1964 movie, One Man’s Way.

Peale is indisputably the father of the positive-thinking, self-esteem gospel, an unholy mixture of humanistic psychology, eastern religion, and the Bible that has almost taken over the Christian world and has even made deep inroads into fundamentalist churches.

In 1937 Peale and psychiatrist Smiley Blanton established a counseling clinic in the basement of the Marble Collegiate Church. Blanton had undergone extended analysis by Freud in Vienna in 1929, 1935, 1936, and 1937. The clinic was described as having “a theoretical base that was Jungian, with strong evidence of neo- and post-Freudianism” (Carol V.R. George, God’s Salesman: Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking, Oxford, 1993, p. 90).

In 1951 the clinic became known as the American Foundation for Religion and Psychiatry, and in 1972 it merged with the Academy of Religion and Mental Health to form the Institutes of Religion and Health (IRH). Peale remained affiliated with the IRH as president of the board and chief fund raiser.


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In 1952 Peale published his famous book on positive thinking, becoming the father of a syncretistic doctrine that has flooded Christianity. Robert Schuller, previous pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California, had for decades patterned his ministry after Peale and has been called “the Norman Vincent Peale of the West.”

Peale also was a promoter of the idea of “positive imaging” which has become popular in many charismatic circles. Peale’s latter years were dedicated particularly to giving motivational talks to secular businesses. He was paid fees of $5,000 to $10,000 by companies who were seeking his services to help them make more money by his positive confession methodologies.

For example, a group of Merrill Lynch real estate associates gave Peale a standing ovation after he told them this:

“There is a deep tendency in human nature ultimately to become precisely what you visualize yourself as being. If you see yourself as tense and nervous and frustrated, if that is your image of yourself, that assuredly is what you will be. If you see yourself as inferior in any way, and you hold that image in your conscious mind, it will presently by the process of intellectual osmosis sink into the unconscious, and you will be what you visualize…..If, on the contrary, you see yourself as organized, controlled, studious, a thinker, a worker, believing in your talent and ability and yourself, over a period of time, that is what you will become….Now, you may believe that this is all theoretical. But I believe, and I’ve tested it out in so many cases that I’m sure of its validity, that if a person has a business and images that business at a certain level and fights off his doubts ... it will come out that way--all because of the power of the positive image” (Jeanne Pugh, “The Eternal Optimist,” St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, Religion Section, June 8, 1985).

This is a New Age doctrine and practice. Man, allegedly, has the power within himself, or the ability to tap into a higher power within himself, to accomplish whatever he desires by learning how to visualize it into reality. In his 1987 book Positive Imaging, Peale said:

“Imaging consists of vividly picturing in your conscious mind, a desired goal or objective, and holding that image until it sinks into your unconscious mind, where IT RELEASES GREAT, UNTAPPED ENERGIES” (p. 7).

“There is a powerful and mysterious force in human nature that is capable of bringing about dramatic improvement in our lives. It is a kind of mental engineering... So powerful is the imaging effect on thought and performance that a long-held visualization of an objective or goal can become determinative. ...In imaging, one does not merely think about a hoped-for goal; one ‘sees’ or visualizes it with tremendous intensity, reinforced by prayer. Imaging is a kind of LASER BEAM OF THE IMAGINATION, A SHAFT OF MENTAL ENERGY in which the desired goal of outcome is pictured so vividly by the conscious mind that the unconscious mind accepts it and is activated by it. THIS RELEASES POWERFUL INTERNAL FORCES that can bring about astonishing changes...” (pp. 9, 10).

Peale gives dozens of testimonies of people who used positive imaging and visualization to heal diseases, build large corporations, obtain business promotions, improve marriages, pay off debts, create a more healthy personality, build large churches, you name it. Peale describes how that he used imaging techniques in his second church when the attendance was low:

“I visualized that pew full, and all the other pews full, and the church filled to capacity. I held that image in my mind. ... And the day came when the image became a reality” (p. 25).

He tells of a woman who went to a pastor distraught about her husband. He was irritable, full of tension, unable to progress in his business, sleepless. The pastor, John Ellis Large, author of God is Able and a man that Peale describes as “a former colleague of mine,” asked her what time of the night her husband slept the most soundly. She replied that “by five o’clock in the morning he is in deep sleep.” He then gave her the following advice:


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“At five o’clock every morning you get up and sit by your husband and pray for him. Believe that God is there by your husband’s side, actually present with you and with him. IMAGE YOUR HUSBAND AS A WHOLE MAN--happy, controlled, organized and well. Hold that thought intensely. Think of your prayers as reaching his unconscious mind. At that time in the morning his conscious mind is not resisting and YOU CAN GET AN IDEA INTO HIS UNCONSCIOUS. Visualize him as kindly, cooperative, happy, creative and enthusiastic” (p. 37).

After practicing this visualization technique for several weeks the man’s personality allegedly changed and he got a promotion! This is not biblical praying. It is occultic. To pray to God and ask Him to do something is one thing, but to try to create something by visualizing it and “speaking into” another person’s unconscious mind and forcing it into reality through “holding the image,” is occultic and is entertaining demons unawares.

Peale advised the members of his congregation:

“When you leave the church, visualize Him walking out with you, strong, compassionate, protective, understanding” (p. 38).

Peale taught people that they could tap into the power of God within, and he said this indiscriminately to everyone and made no important distinction between the saved and the lost. In the introduction to the book Discovering the Power of Positive Thinking, Peale’s daughter, Ruth Stafford, says:

“[My father’s] faith led him to the conviction that GOD HAD PLACED A PORTION OF HIS POWER IN ALL OF US. My father reasoned, if this was the case, then each of us was capable of doing great things. ... The overall message of Discovering the Power of Positive Thinking is simply this: If you believe that THE POWER OF GOD WITHIN YOU is equal to any of life’s difficulties, then a rewarding life will be yours. This belief inspired the bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking” (pp. 5, 6).

As could be expected, Peale’s own testimony of salvation was not clear. He claimed to have had a number of “conversion” experiences. When he was a boy, Peale’s father instructed him to pray for renewed faith and trust in God and “to get converted” once again. The doctrine of the once-for-all new birth was muddled by this type of teaching. Peale claimed to have had another conversion experience in England in 1934. He said he “prayed aloud, confessing his weaknesses and surrendering himself to the Lord,” and immediately he felt “warm all over” Peale also described conversions during a Billy Graham crusade in 1957 and while watching Rex Humbard on television.

In an interview with religious news writer John Sherrill, Peale testified:

“I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I mean that I believe my sins are forgiven by the atoning work of grace on the cross. ... Now I’ll tell you something else. ... I personally love and understand this way of stating the Christian gospel. But I am absolutely and thoroughly convinced that it is my mission never to use this language in trying to communicate with the audience that God has given me” (Christianity Today, June 21, 1993).

One problem with this testimony is that Peale had the habit of redefining biblical terms. What did he mean atoning work, by grace, by the cross?

Peale was reared in a Methodist home, the son of a Methodist preacher. Though we do not know how sound his father’s faith was, we do know that his parents encouraged him to attend schools which were hotbeds of liberalism. Peale’s modernism was nurtured at liberal Methodist schools; Ohio Wesleyan University and Boston University School of Theology. In a sympathetic biography, God’s Salesman, author Carol V.R. George devotes an entire chapter to “Learning the Lessons of Liberalism.” George describes Peale’s education:


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“... he was guided by his professor of English literature, William E. Smyser, to works by Emerson and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius for a sympathetic unfolding of the power of the individual mind. ... Peale’s discovery of James and EMERSON, and to a lesser extent Marcus Aurelius, acquired in the atmosphere of romantic idealism that seemed to flourish on the Methodist campus, EVENTUALLY BECAME PART OF HIS MENTAL EQUIPMENT AND THEN A LIFETIME FASCINATION. He would soon encounter the EMERSON OF TRANSCENDENTALISM again in seminary as a shaping force in liberal theology….Peale’s course of study at seminary was therefore a mixture of theology, philosophy, and social science, of THE MYSTICISM OF PERSONALISM and the activism and ethics of the social gospel. ... it became another means for nurturing A METAPHYSICAL SUBJECTIVISM that had been planted in his religious outlook in his earlier days....When he left seminary he described himself as a liberal ... in any conflict with fundamentalists his spontaneous reaction was to side with the modernists” (George, pp. 36-37, 49- 52).

These remarks are very telling. Peale’s faith was mystical and metaphysical. This is New Age. He was powerfully influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was a Unitarian minister who fashioned a religious philosophy that attempted to synthesize pagan religions such as Hinduism, Confucianism, and Zoroastrianism, with Christianity. He held to such heresies and pagan doctrines as the fatherhood of God, the divinity of man, the unity of religions, and man is one with God and has no need of an atonement. In his 1841 essay “The Over-Soul,” Emerson wrote:

“... within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One. ... there is no bar or wall in the soul where man, the effect, ceases, and God, the cause, begins” (Emerson, The Over-Soul).

Thus, Emerson taught that man’s soul is God and God is man’s soul.

Peale’s first pastorate after graduation from seminary was at the King’s Highway Methodist Church in Brooklyn, New York. His populistic, positive message gain instant acclaim:


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“In the three years he was at King’s Highway, between 1924 and 1927, the church experienced phenomenal growth, increasing from just over a hundred members when he arrived to nearly 900 when he left...” (Gods Salesman, p. 56).

Peale’s biographer notes,

“His message was already assuming the contours it would retain; it was a theologically liberal, inspirational talk that emphasized the transforming result of a relationship with Jesus and with the church” (Gods Salesman, George, p. 57).

The problem was that Peale’s Jesus was the not the Jesus of the Bible, but the Jesus of his own creation. Peale’s Jesus was a Jesus that did not condemn sin; a Jesus that was not born of a virgin; a Jesus that was not the eternal God; a Jesus that did not die and shed His blood for man’s sin. Peale used the fundamentalist’s vocabulary, but he used the modernist’s dictionary. This is why so many were deceived by the man. Peale’s god was not the God of the Bible, but the god of self. His faith was not faith in the Jesus Christ of the Bible, but faith in faith. His gospel was not the gospel of repentance from sin and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, but a gospel of self-esteem, self-help, and self-recovery.

In the 1950s Peale was labeled a heretic by the evangelical world. For example, an article in Christianity Today, November 11, 1957, said,

“Peale speaks much of faith, but it is not faith in God, but ‘faith in faith,’ which means in your capacities. ... This is neither religion, moralism, or anything more than self-help baptized with a sprinkling of devout-plus-medical phrases. For those who believe in the God of Scripture, the reality of vitality of good and evil, and the grace of God unto salvation, there is nothing here but the frenzy of a guilty life and the misery of creeping death.”

The May 1, 1955, issue of United Evangelical Action, noted with wise and courageous insight:

“Unless one is deeply discerning it will not be noticed that Peale has caricatured God, ignored sin and its needed repentance. Norman Vincent Peale’s philosophy is so high-sounding, so full of secondary gospel truth, that millions of his patrons fail to see that the basic redemptive truth of the gospel is completely ignored. Unless one is deeply discerning it will not be noticed that Peale has caricatured God, ignored sin and its needed repentance. Peale presents a very convenient God who is a sort of ‘glorified bellboy.’”

As the years passed, Peale did not change but evangelicalism did. Peale remained the same heretic he always was, while evangelicalism became increasingly apostate and blind so that in recent decades Peale has been widely hailed as a man of God. Billy Graham helped raise Peale’s status in the evangelical world by inviting him to give the benediction at a crusade in New York in 1956. At a National Council of Churches luncheon on December 6, 1966, Graham said,

“I don’t know anyone who has done more for the kingdom of God than Norman and Ruth Peale, or have meant any more in my life--the encouragement they have given me” (Hayes Minnick, Bible for Today publication #565, p. 28).

Peale’s wife, Ruth, was a member of the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society (ABS). Peale addressed the 171st annual meeting of the American Bible Society in New York on May 14, 1987. In the announcement for this event, the ABS described Peale as “an author who has inspired millions of his fellow human beings the world over to think ‘positively,’ an uplifting radio and TV personality, and for more than 60 years, a preacher of the Gospel of Christ truly filled with the Holy Spirit” (Christian News, Feb. 16, 1987).

In 1988, Eternity magazine, which has a stated goal of helping “believers in America and elsewhere develop a genuinely Christian mindset,” was taken over by Peale’s Foundation for Christian Living. Well-known evangelical leader James M. Boice, editor of Eternity, wrote a glowing report of the merger which he


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entitled “An Exciting Milestone.” Boice gave no warning about Peale’s modernism. (By the end of that year, Eternity had ceased to exist.)

The National Religious Broadcasters presented Peale with an Award of Merit and Eric Fellman, one-time editor of Moody Monthly, resigned in 1985 to become editor-in-chief of Peale’s Foundation for Christian Living, and Moody continued to print articles by Fellman.

In a review of a biography on Peale, Christianity Today said this of the positive thinker. Observe how dramatically the thinking of Christianity Today had changed since 1957:

“Norman Vincent Peale is a devout Christian, who injected vitality into a church that was losing touch with ordinary Americans--with the salesmen and housewives and schoolteachers who found him so inspirational. Peale spoke their language, much as televangelists and megachurch pastors who followed him have done. But did he pay too high a price to connect?” (Christianity Today, June 21, 1993, pp. 35-36).

This is the typical new-evangelical hallmark of tiptoeing around the hard issues. Unwilling to come out negatively against heresy, Christianity Today merely throws out a mild question for its readers to answer themselves rather than make a plain statement that Peale was an apostate. Many were deceived by Peale’s winsomeness and his use of Bible terminology. Guideposts magazine goes into the homes of many Bible-believing Christians who are unaware of Peale’s heresies and who do not have pastors brave enough or well-informed enough to warn plainly of heretics.

Though Peale rarely spoke in clear theological terms, he did on occasion openly deny the Christian faith. In an interview with Phil Donahue in 1984, Peale said:

“It’s not necessary to be born again. You have your way to God; I have mine. I found eternal peace in a Shinto shrine. ... I’ve been to the Shinto shrines, and God is everywhere.” Donahue exclaimed, “But you’re a Christian minister; you’re supposed to tell me that Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life, aren’t you?” Peale replied, “Christ is one of the ways! God is everywhere.” Peale told Donahue that when he got to “the Pearly Gates”, “St. Peter” would say, “I like Phil Donahue; let him in!” Mr. Peale gave comfort to some in the audience who believed that “just so we think good thoughts” and “just so we do good, we believe we’ll get to heaven” (Hugh Pyle, Sword of the Lord, Dec. 14, 1984).

To fully affirm the confusing world of Peale it was also common knowledge that he was a freemason and served as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of New York City and Imperial Grand Chaplain of the Shrine. On September 30, 1991, he was inducted into the Scottish Rite Hall of Honor, and his oil portrait hangs in the House of the Washington D.C. Temple (The Berean Call, Oct. 1992).

In an article that appeared in the Masonic Scottish Rite Journal in February 1993, Peale said:

“My grandfather was a Mason for 50 years, my father for 50 years, and I have been a Mason for over 60 years. This means my tie with Freemasonry extends back to 1869 when my grandfather joined the Masons. ... Freemasonry does not promote any one religious creed. All Masons believe in the Deity without reservation. However, Masonry makes no demands as to how a member thinks of the Great Architect of the Universe. ... men of different religions meet in fellowship and brotherhood under the fatherhood of God.”


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4. SIR JOHN TEMPLETON: CHAMPION OF UNITY

Sir John Templeton, knighted in 1987 for services to charity, died at the age of 95. He was an American-born British stock investor, businessman and philanthropist and a legend in the world of fund management. Born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee, Templeton attended Yale University and became a billionaire by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds. He renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1968, thus avoiding U.S. income taxes and became a British subject after moving to the Bahamas. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987, the year he set up the John Templeton Foundation.

However what is really interesting is that Templeton invested much of his multi-million pound fortune in promoting spiritual and religious progress, writing editing several books about religion and spirituality, including Wisdom from World Religions: Pathways Toward Heaven on Earth. In fact, in 2007, he was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (Time 100) under the category of "Power Givers." Templeton was given this honor for his "pursuit of spiritual understanding, often through scientific research" through his establishment of the John Templeton Foundation.

A Jul 2008 article in the Telegraph.co.uk says in part,

“Templeton once described his speculative activities as a “ministry”, and saw the workings of the money market as part of God’s plan for His creation. His Bible-belt religiosity appealed to small investors in middle America, and they entrusted him with their savings…

in 1992 he sold the Templeton Funds to the Franklin Group for $440 million, a move which freed him to devote his time to the work he considered really important — the promotion of religion and spirituality.

Templeton believed in the possibility of religious as well as scientific advance, and argued that theologians should match the achievements of science with spiritual research, harnessing the tools of science to make “progress”….

Unbelievably, Templeton was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church and a trustee on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary [the largest Presbyterian seminary] for 42 years serving as its chair for 12 years. In fact, on March 18, 2002, Princeton Seminary and the John Templeton Foundation co-sponsored a workshop titled “Exploring Prayer and Spiritual Formation during Adolescence,”

In fact not only does Princeton boast a ‘Templeton Hall’ but, Princeton Seminary's Board of Trustees endorsed the establishment of the Bryant M. Kirkland Minister of the Chapel Endowment. Kirkland was not


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only minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, a past president of the American Bible Society but also vice president of the John Templeton Foundation. Perhaps both Princeton Seminary and B. Kirkland missed Templeton saying “I am still an enthusiastic Christian,” explaining his commitment to what he called religious progress. “But why shouldn't I try to learn more? Why shouldn't I go to Hindu services? Why shouldn't I go to Muslim services? If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more.”

Or as written on his site,

“Although he was a Presbyterian elder active in his denomination and served on the board of the American Bible Society, Templeton espoused what he called a "humble approach" to theology. Declaring that relatively little is known about God through scripture and present-day theology, he once predicted that "scientific revelations may be a gold mine for revitalizing religion in the 21st century."

Templeton took a broad view of spirituality and ethics. He was influenced by the Unity School of Christianity, a movement that espouses a non-literal view of heaven and hell and a shared divinity between God and humanity. As he wrote, "We realize that our own divinity arises from something more than merely being 'God's children' or being 'made in his image.'" Templeton did not claim to be a theologian, but he was determined to support the work of those who might deepen our "knowledge and love of God."

According to Media Transparency between the years of 1998 and 2004, The Templeton Foundation made 43 grants, totaling $3,509,971, to the Association of Unity Churches, which begs the question, what does Unity believe and teach?

According to the web site of the Unity of the Shenandoah Church,

Q What are the basic tenets of the Unity teachings?

A “Jesus was a special person in history who expressed perfection and thereby became the Christ, or Jesus Christ. He was a Teacher who demonstrated the importance of thoughts, words, and deeds in shaping the life and world of the individual”

Q Do Unity ministry teachers believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ?

A Yes. Unity church leaders teach that the spirit of God dwelt in Jesus, just as it indwells every person; and that every person has the potential to express the perfection of Christ, as Jesus did, by being more Christ-like in everyday life.

Q What are Unity's distinctive characteristics?

A “Unity students are encouraged to align with the spirit of the Christ within for personal guidance and direction that will best enhance their spiritual growth....”

Jesus: We believe that Jesus expressed his divine potential and sought to show humankind how to express ours as well. We see Jesus as a master teacher of universal truths and as our Way-Shower. In Unity, we use the term "Christ" to mean the divinity in humankind. Jesus is the great example of the Christ in expression.

The Nature of Humankind: We are each individual, eternal expressions of God. Our essential nature is divine and therefore inherently good. Our purpose is to express our divine potential as realized and


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demonstrated by Jesus and other master teachers. The more we awaken to our divine nature, the more fully God expresses in and through our lives.

The Bible: Unity co-founders, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, studied the Bible as history and allegory, and interpreted it as a metaphysical representation of humankind's evolutionary journey toward spiritual awakening. In addition, Unity recognizes that the Bible is a complex collection of writings compiled over many centuries. We honor the writings as reflecting the understanding and inspiration of the writers at the time they were written. The Bible continues to be a valuable spiritual resource for us.

Templeton's beliefs are clearly expressed in his numerous writings: He is an evolutionist, pantheist, universalist, and has occultic views. His writings display a rejection of the God of the Bible, Christ as the only way to God. He claims that heaven and hell are states of mind we create here on earth that truth is relative, and that Christianity is no longer relevant today as it was in Christ’s day.

The Templeton web site says

“In day-to-day life, we encounter men and women who seem driven by something outside of themselves, whose commitment to their profession or volunteer activities, their community, or their cause seems to rise above the necessary, above the possible, above even the human. Indeed, we say that in such people we see “the divine spark.” ….Many religious traditions, both Eastern and Western, subscribe to the idea that there is something of God’s presence in each of us. Even for the growing number of people who describe themselves as spiritual, but not necessarily religious, there is a certain attachment to this concept of the divine spark. It is the sense that our lives can be guided from within by something more important than our simple survival, something not merely intellectual either, something in our souls.”

In his own words see the following excerpts from Templeton’s books.

Templeton: "The truly humble should be so open-minded that they welcome religious views from any place in the universe that is peopled with intelligent life. Seekers following the humble approach... never... reject ideas from other nations, religions, or eras... the humble approach to theology is ongoing and constantly evolving.... In fact, at the heart of true religion is the willingness to see truths in other religions. The Persian scriptures claim, "Whatever road I take joins the highway that leads to Thee.... Broad is the carpet God has spread...." (The Humble Approach, Pages 35-36, 45)

Templeton: “God is billions of stars in the Milky Way and He is much more …Time and space and energy are all part of God …God is five billion people on Earth… God is untold billions of beings on planets of millions of other stars

The Old Testament draws a clear distinction between the Creator and created beings. While God is omnipresent (everywhere all at once) He is not the physical universe He created it. In the opening chapter of Genesis we find eight instances of the phrase 'Then God said, Let ...', and ten instances of 'God said' all in reference to the words He used as he created the universe and everything in it. Like every cause, the Cause of the universe must be independent of its effect. Thus, the first cause must be separate from the universe, not a part of it. From ancient times, the Bible has clearly presented God as non-physical, a Spirit who cannot be contained, even by the heavens.

"But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him? (2 Chronicles 2:6)

“Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? "For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD” (Isaiah 66:1-2)


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Isaiah was pointing to God's transcendence when he wrote,

To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [Isaiah 40:18-29]

And Scripture records God's own testimony . . .

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. [Isaiah 55:8,9]

Templeton: According to Templeton, the world's scriptures (including the Bible) "were written... [by] men whose minds were limited by cosmologies long since discredited" (The Humble Approach, P. 61). Nor does the Bible accurately record the words of Christ, because those who reported them "could write down only what they understood... [as] ignorant and primitive... Jews." (The Humble Approach, Pages 39-40).

"No one should say that God can be reached by only one path. Such exclusiveness lacks humility....New, freer, more imaginative and adaptable creeds will have to be devised in order that man's God-given mind and imagination can help to build the kingdom of heaven" (The Humble Approach, 46,55). As for Templeton's "heaven,"

On the contrary, Paul affirmed that every word in the Bible "is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tm 3:16); Peter said of the Bible, "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pt 1:21); and the psalmist said, "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps 119:89). While Jude 1:3. says “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”.

Templeton: “No one should say that God can be reached by only one path” (The Humble Approach Pages 46,55).

Actually the Bible not only states that there is only one path but that this path is very narrow. "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. [Matthew 7:13]. “And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And He said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. [Luke 13:23-24]

Templeton: “Some people do appear to come closer to God when they pray in Jesus' name, possible because they have progressed more in that upward path if the humility and meekness of Jesus more than others. But on the other hand, some appear more spiritual when they pray as disciples of Buddha or Mohammed or Abraham. Theodore Parker taught that the doctrinal formulation of Christianity have changed and will change from age to age and what is sometimes called heresy at one time is accepted as orthodox and infallible in another age”. [The Humble Approach. Pages 48]

This is a totally ridiculous statement.. the “doctrinal formulation” has never changed. For a heresy to exist there must be an authoritative system of dogma designated as orthodox. In Christianity the authority is, and always has been, Scripture. Any departure from the foundational and critical doctrines of Scripture are deemed heretical, regardless of how many people believed the heresy at the time. And as far as


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Templeton’s statement about some people appearing more spiritual or closer to God than others. Please note the use of the word “appear” because this is all that it is, appearances.

No human made up the doctrine of Jesus being the only way to God. Jesus made this claim, saying "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me" (John 14:6). "For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). Christ's apostles later affirmed His claim: "And 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," Peter says in Acts 4:12. Paul writes "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

Templeton: "Maybe one of the attributes of God is change" (The Humble Approach. Page 52).

Templeton: “Christians think God appeared in Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago for our salvation and education. But we should not take it to mean that education and progress stopped there, that Jesus was the end of change, the end of time. Is such a notion compatible with God's law of the universe? To say that God cannot reveal Himself again in a decisive way because He did it once years ago seems sacrilegious. We should be gentle, kind and sympathetic towards God’s new prophets even though they bring strange new ideas" [The Humble Approach. Page 53]

Templeton: "the idea that Heaven is a locality situated on the other side of death and that we must be either wholly in heaven or wholly in hell, has stunted progress in religion and caused it to march out of step with the rapid progress of business and science. Should we not see all around us that heaven is like sanity or wisdom? Few are totally without it. It usually comes gradually, not all at once. Some travel back and forth between heaven and hell... Heaven may be the union of our spirit with God's spirit in a constant striving and studying to become like Him" (The Humble Approach. Page 97).

Templeton: ““I am hoping to develop a body of knowledge about God that doesn’t rely on ancient revelations or scripture (the bible)… The main purpose of the Templeton foundations is to encourage enthusiasm for accelerating discovery and progress in spiritual matters” (The Humble Approach. Pages 135-139).

One of the methods that the Templeton Foundation uses to seduce, even the "elect," is the concept of "honoring" individuals, groups, colleges and universities by listing them as being high-achievers in some laudable endeavor. For example, the Templeton Foundation has presented in their guide to Colleges that Encourage Character Development "555 profiles of exemplary programs, presidents, and colleges and universities that inspire students to lead ethical and civic-minded lives." On the Internet, you will find these individuals and organizations proudly announcing this "great honor."

This is a seduction based upon the sin of pride. It is a standard method to hide the true purpose of an organization since I can find no rejections of this "honor." Since these individuals, colleges and universities seem to accept this "honor," one might assume that they also agree with the Templeton Foundation's philosophic bases. However, the major method is the seduction of "money." With a yearly budget that is estimated at 40 million dollars, the Templeton Foundation funds, often via or in connection with surrogate groups like American Scientific Affiliation or the Center for Science and the Natural Sciences, various prizes, college courses, books, lectures and conferences, most of which satisfy one or more of its theological goals. Grants have been given to many so-called Christian colleges and even accepted by fundamental Bible colleges.


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5. ROBERT SCHULLER: ADVOCATE OF NEW THOUGHT

Robert Harold Schuller (born September 16, 1926) is a retired American televangelist, pastor, motivational speaker, and author. He was principally known for the weekly Hour of Power television program which he began in 1970. He is also the founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, where the Hour of Power program was previously broadcast. In recent years scandal has plagued the church with a feud between the board of directors and family founders. The Cathedral building with a massive unsecured debt was purchased by the Roman Catholic Church and is due to be handed over in 2015.

As pastor from 1955 – 2006 Schuller was well known for parading an impressive line-up of celebrity speakers at the Crystal Cathedral during his ministry. Notable guests have included musician John Tesh, former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Christian singer Jaci Velasquez, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, pianist Roger Williams, Christian singer Joy Williams, Backstreet Boys member and Christian singer Brian Littrell, Christian singer Natalie Grant, actor Noah Gray-Cabey, former tennis star Michael Chang, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, American tenor Daniel Rodriguez, musical group The Oak Ridge Boys, Christian singer Sara Groves, radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, MLB baseball player Kirk Gibson and actor Denzel Washington.

Sometimes referred to as "the evangelist without a gospel" Schuller was responsible for promoting New Agers and their doctrines, leading his church further and further away from Biblical doctrine down some very dark paths. Schuller reinterpreted the doctrines of the Word of God to conform with his self-esteem philosophy. His Christ was a Jesus who provides men with self-esteem. Schuller's gospel is the replacement of negative self concepts with positive ones. To Schuller, sin is merely the lack of self-esteem. To Schuller, the greatest evil is to call men sinners in a Biblical fashion and thereby injure their self-esteem.

Schuller is a universalist who believes that all people are the children of God. His goal is to help each person understand and enjoy this "fact." Schuller's message is that there is no need for one to recognize his own personal sin, no need for repentance, and no need for the crucifixion of self. In fact, concerning the latter point, Schuller teaches just the opposite philosophy, that self is to be exalted, which is nothing less than an outright denial of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

Proof of Schuller's promotion of New Age teachings and teachers is his article in the Summer 1986 issue of Possibilities magazine. As well as the central message being that 'all is God and God is all,' the article also declared that, "The Christ Spirit dwells in every human being, whether the person knows it or not" (p. 12).


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Schuller has also addressed Unity ministers in Kansas City, not only stating that he agreed with their teachings (which, among other things, reject the gospel of Christ, and teach Yoga, reincarnation, and other New Age philosophies), but he also commended Unity and offered his success techniques to help Unity grow larger. In an address to a Unity congregation in Warren, Michigan, Schuller's motivational talk presented Jesus as "the greatest Possibility Thinker of all time!" (Reported in the 1/88 issue of the CIB Bulletin.)

Amazingly, New Age leader Neale Donald Walsch refers to Robert Schuller as an extraordinary minister on page 282 of his book The New Revelations: A Conversation with God. As Warren Smith rightly says In Rethinking Robert Schuller

“From my perspective as a former New Age follower, I believe that Robert Schuller’s mission has always been to “rethink” and “change” biblical Christianity into something “new”—as in New Age/New Spirituality. In his book, Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow: Living God’s Dream for Your Life, Schuller eagerly writes about the virtue of compromise. In this book, that bears New Age leader Gerald Jampolsky’s endorsement on the back cover, Schuller states, “We need to learn the healing quality of wise compromise.” [p. 153] He further states, “Perhaps the only way to deal with contradictions is to combine them creatively and produce something new. That’s ingenious compromise.” [p. 157]

Some of the biggest areas of concern was his relationship with John Marks Templeton and his promotion of Templeton’s book, Discovering The Laws of Life, and his relationship with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He also called Napoleon Hill’s book Success through a Positive Mental Attitude one of the ten books that has most impacted his faith and his philosophy and also heavily endorsed A Course In Miracles and the promotion of psychiatrist Gerald Jampolsky.

A Course in Miracles has been one of the most popular ‘enlightenment’ books ever. In an article entitled A Course in Miracles: Christian Glossed Hinduism For The Masses, the Christian Research Institute asks the question… What is it about A Course in Miracles that has made it so successful?

“In the past century a glut of spiritistic Bibles have been published to help usher in the anticipated New Age of occult enlightenment, but none have rivaled the popularity and influence achieved by the Course. It has sold 1.25 million sets and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, and many other languages. 1900 study groups now exist in the United States and Europe…. In light of its sales, the number of its teachers, and its indirect influence through other mediums, a conservative estimate would be that at least five million people have been exposed to the Course teachings. Some mainline churches use it as part of their educational programs, since numerous Catholic and Protestant clergy have given it glowing endorsements. In fact, the Course specifically commends itself toward acceptance within the Christian church. Distinctively Christian terminology is used throughout.”

In the late 1980s Schuller's Crystal Cathedral church hosted workshops for A Course In Miracles, a blatantly New Age human-potential course. Only after much outcry from knowledgeable Christians did the Crystal Cathedral stop hosting the workshops. Yet over the years Schuller has continued to champion many New Age teachers and has even showcased some on his Hour of Power television program. Psychiatrist Jerry Jampolsky, has been touted by Schuller as a "Peace Maker". In introducing Jampolsky to his congregation, Schuller claimed that Jampolsky had "found God." What he neglected to tell the people is that Jampolsky found "God" through A Course In Miracles, and that Jampolsky's book, Love is Letting Go of Fear, is completely based on the teachings of A Course In Miracles. It's not that Jampolsky's connection to A Course In Miracles was hidden. On the dedication page of his book he thanked the authors of A Course In Miracles and openly stated that his book was based on their work

Jampolskys bestselling books, There Is a Rainbow Behind Every Cloud, Goodbye to Guilt, Out of Darkness into the Light, Love Is Letting Go of Fear, Teach Only Love, and Children as Teachers of Peace condense


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basic themes of the Course. His Center for Attitudinal Healing was founded in 1975 under the direction of an inner voice, which instructed him to establish a center where the principles of the Course could be taught and demonstrated. The Course content also promotes occultism and spiritistic guidance, which is another characteristic goal of demonic revelations. As an example of the psychic guidance people have been led to accept through the course, many people have received the author of the course (Jesus) as their personal spirit guide in other words, a demon cleverly impersonating Jesus. In his Good-Bye to Guilt Releasing Fear through Forgiveness (New York: Bantam, 1985, Pgs. 62-64) Gerald Jampolsky confesses that ‘Jesus’ became his spirit guide and even possessed him in order to act and speak through him.

Additionally, Gerald Jampolsky has also endorsed Schuller’s book Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow: Living God’s Dream for Your Life, saying,

“Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow is written with such passion, compassion and honesty that you are actually able to feel the inner linings of Robert H. Schuller’s heart. There is a spiritual energy based on faith and optimism in this book, with so many heart rending stories that will uplift the reader into a new spiritual dimension.”

“We need to learn the healing quality of wise compromise. ... Perhaps the only way to deal with contradictions is to combine them creatively and produce something new. That’s ingenious compromise.”

Throughout his life, Schuller has made many affirmation of how is thinking was heavily influenced through the materials of Napolean Hill.

“Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude is one of the ten books that has most impacted my faith and my philosophy. It is a premier book on one of the most important subjects a person can study. No person’s education is complete without the concepts you and Napoleon Hill articulated in it so wisely and so well.”

The problem here is that Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude is actually a channeled book.

Napoleon Hill himself claimed that

“an emissary came across the astral plane. In a voice that “sounded like chimes of great music,” this visitor from another dimension declared: “I come from the Great School of Masters. I am one of the Council of Thirty-Three who serve the Great School and its initiates on the physical plane.”

Hill was informed that he had been “under the guidance of the Great School” for years and had been chosen by them to give the formula of success, the “Supreme Secret,” to the world: that “anything the human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve.”


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6. A COURSE IN MIRACLES

What is it about A Course in Miracles? In the past century a glut of spiritistic Bibles have been published to help usher in the anticipated New Age of occult enlightenment, but none have rivaled the popularity and influence achieved by the Course. It has sold 1.25 million sets and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, and many other languages. 1900 study groups now exist in the United States and Europe.

In light of its sales, the number of its teachers, and its indirect influence through other mediums, a conservative estimate would be that at least five million people have been exposed to the Course teachings. For example, prominent New Ager Marianne Williamson's million-copy bestseller, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles (Harper-Collins, 1992), is heavily based on the Course. Her promotions of the Course on TV are also numerous. Popular TV host Oprah Winfrey was so enthralled with this book that she bought a thousand copies for her friends and others, many of noted influence.

As mentioned previously, influential psychiatrist Gerald Jampolsky also extols Course virtues throughout the country in his lectures and books.

The Course has influenced the Christian church as well. Evangelical Christians, such as author Virginia Mollenkott in Speech, Silence, Action, attest to its alleged benefits in their lives. Some mainline churches use it as part of their educational programs, since numerous Catholic and Protestant clergy have given it glowing endorsements. In fact, the Course specifically commends itself toward acceptance within the Christian church. Distinctively Christian terminology is used throughout.

All in all, the Course is a masterpiece of spiritual strategy. It claims to be a revelation from Jesus Christ Himself, and it is intelligently organized and simply written. It appeals to personal pride and can become almost addicting emotionally. It is carefully designed for radically restructuring a persons perception against Christian faith and toward New Age occultism.

We might say the text was designed not only for spiritually searching individuals of a secular or psychic persuasion, but especially for nominal Christians in the church who have recognized the bankruptcy of theological liberalism and desire more spiritual reality in their lives. In essence, the Course simultaneously indoctrinates its students in Eastern metaphysics and human potential psychicism, while it specifically insulates them against biblical revelation and true Christianity. In achieving this end, its manipulation of


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psychological and emotional states is impressive, it offers carefully thought-out spiritual exercises, one for every day of the year.

A Course in Miracles was channeled (spiritistically delivered) through an atheistic psychologist named Helen Schucman. Dr. Schucman, who had an early background in New Thought metaphysics and the occult, would not permit public knowledge of her role as the medium and eight-year channel for the Course until after her death. She died in 1981.

Due to job-related stress and a crisis at work, Schucman began to write down and explore her highly symbolic dreams. This exploration went on for several months. Unexpectedly, one day she heard an inner voice say, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” From this experience ensued a form of inner dictation. Although it was not a form of automatic writing, the otherworldly nature of the phenomenon made her very uncomfortable.

The method of transmission was a clear, distinct inner voice that promised to direct her very specifically. The voice did just that, and the same spiritistic direction is promised to students of the Course. Schucman described the process as the kind of inner dictation common to many other channeled works. She wrote, “It cant be an hallucination, really, because the Voice does not come from outside. Its all internal. There’s no actual sound, and the words come mentally but very clearly. Its a kind of inner dictation you might say.”

Schucman took shorthand dictation from the voice almost daily: It always resumed dictation precisely where it had left off, no matter how much time had elapsed between sessions.

Schucman was a most unlikely channel. She was a respected research psychologist, a pragmatic materialist, and a committed atheist before receiving the revelations. Among her prestigious appointments, she had been Associate Professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and associate research scientist and chief psychologist at the Neurological Institute of The Presbyterian Hospital. Her Jewish background and commitment to atheism made her very uncomfortable with the Christian tone of the messages.

Her co-scribe on the project was Dr. William Thetford, an agnostic teacher and research assistant to the famed psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers. Thetford held appointments at the Washington School of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medica1 College, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Before his death he was civilian medical specialist in family medicine at the David Grant USAF Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, California, and director of the Center for Attitudinal Healing in Tiburon, California. Thetford’s prestigious standing in the medical community and his wide influence gave him many opportunities to publicize the Course.

Some might argue that Schucman simply wanted to discredit orthodox Christianity. But nothing in her life or personality suggests she would deliberately go to such lengths merely to undermine the Christian faith. Furthermore, the voice, as is generally the case in spiritism, was merciless and unrelenting. This was clearly a force controlling Schucman, not a personally desired writing project to reinvent Christianity.

A Course in Miracles teaches people that for physical and spiritual health, they must accept proper attitudes toward themselves, life in general, and the world. What are these proper attitudes? In essence, they constitute (1) the rejection of biblical understandings about such issues as sin, guilt, and atonement, and (2) the acceptance of New Age occult teachings, such as pantheism (All is God, God is All) and psychic development. Specifically, the Course offers a form of Westernized Hinduism with the distinct goal of changing its readers perceptions into conformity with the nondualistic (advaita) school of Vedanta Hinduism. This school maintains that the world is ultimately a dream or illusion and that all men and women


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are in reality divine manifestations of the godhead. Another chief goal of the Course is to encourage the student to accept psychic (spiritistic) guidance.

Volume 1 is the text itself, which presents spiritual (metaphysical) and theological teachings, including heretical treatments of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as a vicarious atonement, the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of salvation.

Volume 2 is a Workbook for Students, which offers 365 spiritual lessons and exercises to help the participant personally and experientially assimilate this new worldview and cultivate an openness to psychic and spiritual guidance. Volume 2 has two specific goals: (1) learning New Age Hinduism and (2) unlearning biblical Christianity.

Volume 3 is a Manual for Teachers of the Course. It offers them a sense of divine destiny for their spiritual mission, Course teachers are referred to as teachers of God.

In addition to the set of three volumes described above, another manual, Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice, is suggested by Course promoters for integrating its concepts with modern psychotherapy. This is for the professional therapist who wishes to use Course teachings in his or her counseling practice.

The Course’s encouragement toward psychic guidance is obvious. Writing in New Realities, Brian Van der Horst observes above all, the Course instructs students in the discovery of their own inner guidance, the revelation of a spiritual voice that counsels one in all situations. The Voice or God or Holy Spirit, as it is called, that gives everything from direction for making decisions on business, career, and life purpose, to advice to the lovelorn.

Eastern philosophy, particularly Hinduism, plays an important role in the Course. Robert Skutch, publisher of the Course, writes:

“What they now had in their possession was a spiritual document that was very closely related to the teachings of the non-dualistic Vedanta of the Hindu religion, and that the profundity of the Vedanta certainly paralleled the obvious profundity of the Course. He [Thetford] realized the basic spiritual teachings of both had many striking similarities to each other, and that the main difference between them was that the Course was stating the perennial philosophy of eternal truths in Christian terminology with a psychological application that seemed expressly aimed at a contemporary

audience.”

In Course usage, words undergo drastic changes of purpose. Often, the new meanings are the opposite of their biblical usage. For example, atonement no longer refers to Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for sin. In biblical teaching, the atonement is based on the fact that man’s sinfulness separates him from God. Before man can be reconciled to God, there must be a divine judgment of sin. Christ sacrificed His own life on the cross He was judged in our place to accomplish this reconciliation. This is what Christians mean by the word atonement, or the atoning sacrifice of Christ (John 3:16, 18).

In the Course, the word atonement involves the exact opposite: one is not, and never has been, separate from God. An atoning sacrifice in the biblical sense is therefore meaningless. For the Course, the term atonement now refers to correcting the belief that people are separate from God, which is presumed to be a false belief. Hence, because the atonement is not yet completed (i.e., some people still think they are separate from God), Course students are told they have an important role to play in the Atonement. Their job is to help reconcile men and women to the spiritual truth that they are God and therefore cannot be separate from Him.


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According to the Bible, God freely pardons, or forgives, a believers sins on the basis of Jesus Christ’s atonement. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives (1 John 1:8-10). Denying the reality of sin, the Course rejects this central biblical teaching, just as it rejects the biblical concept of the atonement. For the Course, forgiveness merely involves the realization that there never were any sins to pardon. Likewise, sinners do not exist, because sin is an illusion.

As a result of this distorted theology, the Course’s approach to salvation lies in understanding that no one requires salvation in the biblical sense because all men and women are already divine. Salvation is merely accepting ones true identity as one essence with God. Therefore, we need nothing from God because each person’s true nature is God.

Sin, guilt, death, judgment, propitiatory atonement, and other biblical doctrines are viewed as attack philosophies by the Course; that is, they are concepts that supposedly stand in the way of spiritual progress and severely damage the realization of our true divine nature. People must become free of these false, enslaving, and evil ideas if they desire true spiritual freedom. Otherwise, they choose to remain in hell and to kill the God of love.

In this worldview, orthodox Christian beliefs (biblical teachings given by the one true God) are held to be evil, insane, and anti-Christ. Such Course teachings prove that the Jesus of the New Testament could not be its source. This means that the apparent entity who dictated the Course to Helen Schucman lied when he claimed to be Jesus Christ. The most logical possibility for the true author of the Course is therefore a demon, a spiritual underling of Satan, the one Jesus called a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

The spiritistic nature of the Course should now be obvious. Several themes that it has in common with spiritistic revelations are: (1) spirit dictation to an uninterested or hesitant party; (2) forcing production of the revelations; (3) unbiblical content; and (4) encouraging psychic guidance. The wholesale denial of Gods Word and Gods Son is also typical of spiritistic revelations in general.

Again, these spiritistic themes identify the author of the Course as a demonic spirit. When the Course, as a supernatural revelation, actively promotes another Jesus, a different spirit, and a false gospel, the Scripture declares that its origin must be demonic (2 Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15). Significantly, even Course editor and promoter, psychologist Kenneth Wapnick, commented that if the Bible were considered literally true, then the Course would have to be viewed as demonically inspired.

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