The Roman Catholic Church is persistent in her quest to draw all to
herself. One of her major venues is the marketing of mysticism under
various guises. This is
because, as different world religions begin to adopt the idea that
they must work together for the well-being of civilization, Rome truly
believes that “well-being” can
only come through unity with herself as “the mother of all believers.”[1]
Through crises such as famine, war, racism, human rights, ecological problems,
and poverty,
Rome is appealing for togetherness at the level of faith. Her
attempted appropriation of Evangelicalism and false ecumenism with Christian
churches to promote her
gospel we have already documented.[2] Very
dangerous, and for the most part unnoticed, is her effort to bond with
the pagan religions of the world. The common
ground among them all is mysticism, which easily puts within her grasp
the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Islam. Stemming from
her own mysticism and
that of these pagan religions comes the tide of secular mysticism now
freely flowing through the Western world in health programs, education,
and entertainment.
Public programs and private services now openly promote a mystic agenda
all around us, the consequences of which are becoming apparent in our society.
Mysticism has always been the highway into the occult, as many seek
to find their identity in God consciousness. Mystical God consciousness
is an attempt to
replace Christ’s redemption and salvation.
The Infiltration of Catholic Mysticism
Mysticism is an attempt to gain ultimate knowledge of God by a direct
experience that by-passes the mind. The strong influence of Catholic
mysticism has helped
immensely to transform the New Age Movement from being merely a counter-culture
sub-culture to becoming a new source of spiritual vision for the world.
Catholic mysticism has very effectively and subtly invaded many facets
of life without being recognized or critically examined. This has
been actively promoted
through self-help medical, educational and psychological programs employing
methods such as meditation, philosophical programming, and self-hypnotic
contemplation. In melding Eastern subjective spirituality with
Western self-assurance, Catholic mysticism has done much to effectively
hijack public and private
religious life and to invert core beliefs and values of the West.
Catholicism Married to Pagan Religions and Pantheism
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has assimilated to herself
the mystery elements of pagan religions. Subjective religious experience,
or mysticism,
continues to be the meeting point of pagan religions and Catholicism,
particularly so since Vatican Council II, when Rome changed her major strategy
in an attempt
to bring Protestants back under the papal fold. The marriage
between Romanism and paganism is documented in official statements from
Rome. For example, in
Vatican Council II documents she states, “. . . In Hinduism
men explore the divine mystery and express it both in the limitless riches
of myth and the accurately defined insights of philosophy. They seek
release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices, profound
meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love. Buddhism
in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing
world. It proposes a way of life by which man can, with confidence
and trust, attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination
either through their own efforts or by the aid of divine help. . . . The
Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions.
”[3]
Jesuit priest William Johnston explains how it happened, “Then came the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as “valid ways.”[4]
It is on such a quagmire that Catholicism stands hand-in-hand with Buddhism
and Hinduism, and out of which well-known Catholic mystics such as William
Johnston
and Thomas Keating have emerged. For example, Johnston describes
the effect of enlightenment, “Self-realization lies at the very
heart of Buddhism…In
self-realization I become one with God just as the object is one
with the mirror and just as Jesus is one with his Father.”[5]
The famous mystical monk, Thomas Merton, developed this pantheistic identification
with God, as does his present day devotee, William Shannon. Merton
states, “…now I realize what we all are. And if only everyone
could realize this! …I suddenly saw all the secret beauty of their
hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge
can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s
eyes. If only they could or see themselves as they really are.
If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would
be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed....I suppose
the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each
other.”[6]
Shannon endorses the idolatrous self-identification with God and cites
his mentor, Merton, “A person of true faith travels, not without difficulty,
towards the heart of
mystery. Such a person, as Merton puts it, ‘works his way through
the darkness of his own mystery until he discovers that his own mystery
and the mystery of God
merge into one reality, which is the only reality.’ DQ 180”[7].
These quotations are standard descriptions of the pantheistic myth that
we are all in God. In their own minds, Merton and Shannon have literally
transmuted God Himself into their own image, having exchanged Him for human
beings as an object of worship. Have they not, in the words of Romans
1:23, “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man…”?
Leading Buddhists acknowledge Soul Unity with Catholicism Leading Buddhists
recognizes the marriage of Rome and paganism. Thich Nhat Hanh, states,
“Buddhists and Christians know the nirvana, or the
Kingdom of God, is within their hearts [sic]. The Gospels speak of
the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness
[sic]. Buddhist sutras speak of Buddha nature as the seed of enlightenment
that is already in every one’s consciousness. The practices of prayer
and meditation help us touch the most valuable seeds that are within us,
and they put us in contact with the ground of our being.”[8]
The Buddhist leader Dalai Lama on visiting the grave of Thomas Merton
at Gethsemane Abbey prayed, “Now our spirits are one….”[9]
It is an appalling
blasphemy to affirm of the thrice-Holy God that the Kingdom of God
is “as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness” and
that “meditation help[s] us touch the most valuable seeds that are in
us” and that it “put[s] us in contact with the ground of our being.”
Listen to the razor-sharp words of the Redeemer, “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”[10]
The Holy Spirit’s unique office is to lead true believers into all truth
by convicting us of “sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”[11]
It is not by the darkness of meditation on “the ground of our being”
that leads us to the kingdom of Christ; rather in the words of Scripture,
it is the Father “which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”[12]
Evangelical Endorsement of Pantheism
A leading Evangelical, Richard Foster, lauds this pantheistic identification with God. Foster states, “Contemplative Prayer immerses us into the silence of God. How desperately we in the modern world need this wordless baptism!…Progress in intimacy with God means progress toward silence.”[13] Foster asks rhetorically, “What is the goal of Contemplative Prayer?” And he answers, “To this question the old writers answer with one voice: union with God….Bonaventure, a follower of Saint Francis, says that our final goal is ‘union with God,’ which is a pure relationship where we see ‘nothing.’ "[14] Seeing “nothing” and the “wordless baptism” are just an Evangelical rehashing of Catholic irrational superstitious myth. Rather, as II Corinthians 4:3 states, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The Catholic priest Thomas Keating agrees with Foster as he writes,
“Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being
- to God, the
Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions.”[15]
Thus Keating depersonalized God to the nameless “Ultimate Mystery” in mythology.
This
impersonal, “Ultimate Mystery” is a non-speaking, non-judgmental, “god”.
Is Keating in the twenty-first century any better off than the men on Mars
Hill to whom
Paul spoke regarding their “altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN
GOD, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship”[16]?
Nor is any morality derived
from Keating’s “Ultimate Mystery”. Thus Keating Merton and Shannon
with their pantheistic identification with God have attempted destroy God’s
self-sufficiency
as Creator, and the Lord God Almighty. They have endeavored to
clone God into the image of humans. According to Romans 1:25, have
they not “changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever”? No wonder Merton
admits, “If only they
could or see themselves as they really are.....I suppose the big
problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”
In the place of the true
worship of God, they have set about to establish pantheistic idolatry.
Dramatized Mysticism
The Pentecostal Word of Faith movement is simply a dramatized form of
mysticism. In a sermon tape, Kenneth Copeland states, “You don’t
have a god in you, you are one.” In a 1987 crusade, Copeland
is documented as saying, “I say this and repeat it so it don’t upset
you too bad. [sic] When I read in the Bible where He (Jesus) says,
I AM, I say, Yes, I am too!”[17] Kenneth Hagin
in Word of Faith says, “You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus
Christ was. Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and
Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation
as was Jesus of Nazareth.”[18] Casey Treat,
known for the infamous quote, “When God looks into the mirror, He sees
me! When I look into the mirror I see God!,”[19]
proclaims on his WebPage, “God dwells in you. God walks in you.
When you walk, God walks. When you show up, God shows up. When
you show up, a winner shows up. You won’t lose.”[20]
Paul Crouch, Benny Hinn, Charles Capps, Robert Tilton, Paul Yonggi Cho,
Marilyn Hickey, Morris Cerullo, T.L. Osborn, and Jerry Savelle are just
few more of the well-known names that stage-managed mysticism. As
one might suspect, many of the gurus of dramatized mysticism promote fellowship
with Catholicism. The Trinity Broadcasting Network, one largest radio
and TV networks in the world today, through its founders, Paul and Jan
Crouch, fosters fellowship with Roman Catholics, amid mysticism presented
in the whirling garments of charismania. For example,
“The world of Benny Hinn is a strange, confusing world.
He fits perfectly into the category of a Charismatic Catholic priest, dispensing
theological bondage and mystical superstition…a recent Benny Hinn three
hour video which presented him ‘as a ‘twentieth century’ ‘Holy of Holies’,
a ‘point of contact’ for the power and anointing of God much as Roman Catholic
priests were presented during medieval times. They also suggested
that he is becoming a kind of ‘Charismatic Pope.’”[21]
Catholic Charismatics have all the traditional mysticism of the sacraments,
the Word of Faith movement, and Catholic and Zen Mystics from which to
draw. In
Biblical terms they are thrice dead in deceit, for what has been quoted
here are pieces of insolence, blasphemy, and falsehood. The Copelands,
the Crouches, Hinn,
Hagin, and others like them would have you rejoice in the light within
by claiming that you are a god within. The Lord God Almighty proclaims,
“I am the Lord;
that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither
my praise to graven images.”[22] The Word of the
Lord still stands, “To the law and to
the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them.”[23]
The Pope officially approves of Traditional Mystical
In an official “Apostolic Letter” the Pope has endorsed Rome’s own mystical
tradition and the “great mystical tradition of the Church both East and
West.” His
official teaching is,
“…we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the ‘lived theology’ of the saints. The saints offer us precious insights…through their personal experience of those terrible states of trial which the mystical tradition describes as the ‘dark night’. Not infrequently the saints have undergone something akin to Jesus’ experience on the Cross in the paradoxical blending of bliss and pain. In the Dialogue of Divine Providence, God the Father shows Catherine of Siena how joy and suffering can be present together in holy souls: ‘Thus the soul is blissful and afflicted: afflicted on account of the sins of its neighbour, blissful on account of the union and the affection of charity which it has inwardly received. These souls imitate the spotless Lamb, my Only-begotten Son, who on the Cross was both blissful and afflicted’….What an illuminating testimony!…Is it not one of the ‘signs of the times’ that in today's world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer? Other religions, which are now widely present in ancient Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes they do so in appealing ways….The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved…”[24]This is a brilliant piece of political bridge building on the Pope’s part. By citing experiences of “saints”, he attempts to make these experiences universal standards of
Truth Contrasted to Crafted Mythology
True Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in that
it is a rational-historical faith. For the Christian, salvation is
based on something entirely outside of
man. Salvation is found in the faithfulness and perfect sacrifice
of the Christ of history. Catholic and Eastern mystics claim to discover
God in the depths of their
being. The true Christian looks away from himself to the righteousness
of Christ Jesus. Before God, Christ’s satisfaction for sin is a reality
that is all-sufficient. It
does not need to be supplemented by any other reality. God’s
verdict of justification is not grounded on any state of being within the
believing sinner, rather it is
established on Christ Jesus alone. The principle that man can
save himself by his experience and by his own life has been the foundation
of every pagan religion, as it
is of Catholicism. What is so sinister about the present communion
of Rome with paganism is that it is contaminating our entire society.
The deadly deceptions of mysticism arrogantly advertise a way of direct
access to the All Holy God and thereby repudiate any need of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the
One Mediator between God and men. The believer’s worship and
approach to God is in the Lord’s own words to be with “all thy heart, and
with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind.”[26] In the words of
the Apostle Paul, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with
the understanding also.”[27] The same
Apostle warned believers, “Let no man beguile you of your reward
…intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly
mind.”[28] The censure of the Lord
God remains on those who have issued lies, “Woe unto the foolish prophets,
that follow their own spirit, and have seen
nothing!”[29] Because of this debasement
of Christ and His Gospel we again outline the essentials of historical
faith.
Objective Salvation in the Lord of Glory
As Mediator, Christ Jesus is the only means of union between God and
man, “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
and which are on earth; in him.”[30] Christ
Jesus is exalted to “the right hand of the Majesty on high”[31]
as the One Savior. He and His Gospel are objective and real!
This Gospel is not an idle tale, nor a piece of incomprehensible mysticism;
rather it is the
proclamation of the awesome historical work of redemption accomplished
by God Himself. The Father appointed Christ Jesus as the guarantee
of real salvation.
Christ Jesus was glorified in finishing the Father’s mightiest work.
In Christ’s own words, “I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished
the work which thou
gavest me to do.”[32] He had fulfilled
all the Father’s will and so gloriously honored the Father. As Savior
He is exalted high above “all principality and power, and might and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come.”[33] He alone, and
not some mystic charm of Rome or Buddha, has been given all authority in
heaven and in earth. He has been given power over all flesh that
He should in His own words, “ give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”[34]
He alone has been given a name, which is above every name, “that at
the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.”[35]
It is God’s commandment that we trust on Christ, “This is His command,
that we should believe on the name of His Son
Jesus Christ” [36]
True faith involves a repudiation of the self-deceit of experiential
mystical means of reaching God, “for there is one God, and one mediator
between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus.”[37] The
Lord Jesus stands ready to receive every sinner who will throw away his
rebellion and pride and trust in Him alone for
salvation! Preaching the real historical Christ and His Gospel
is the answer to the mindless adumbrations of Rome and the ecumenical mystics.
Thus alone can the
true Church, God’s People “go forth fair as the moon, clear as the
sun, and terrible as an army with banners.”[38]
The Gospel is a mighty deliverance from
the groveling religious subjectivism of Rome and her pagan mistresses.
To know God is life itself to a Christian, in the words of the Lord Himself,
“this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.”[39] Knowledge
of God, and faith in Him, are the means
whereby all spiritual supports and comforts are conveyed to the true
believers. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue.”[40]
The Fulfillment of the New Age Aspiration?
The goal of the New Age Movement has consistently been to bring in the
Age of Aquarius when all will recognize “the God with themselves”.
A major step towards
this in the words of the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, is “the regeneration
of the churches.”[41] Her vision was that “The
Christian church in its many branches
can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness,
and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.”[42]
In a word, she
desired the time when the “Christian churches” would embrace the New
Age concepts of illumination and self-realization. The New Age plan
to bring in world
peace cannot fully establish the Golden Age of Aquarius until Biblical
Christianity is outlawed or destroyed.
Now that the Church of Rome has entered into liaison with paganism,
she has again concocted another successful work of syncretism. As
Catholicism has become
the religion of the European Union,[43] the desires
of New Age leaders appear to be coming true. Even at the local parish
level according to William Shannon
“contemplative spirituality” has now widely replaced old-style Catholicism.[44]
With New Age convictions being voiced by leading Catholics and Evangelicals,
it
appears that the desired goal is closer to being achieved. The
New Age aspiration to establish a one-world order lead by “a Christ Leader”
is being met by the
Pope and his Church. All of this ought not to surprise any believer,
for the Bible has persistently warned believers of the enormity, growth
and prevalence of the
apostate church system and her mistresses.
The Gospel Power and Final Destruction the Apostate Kingdom
The ruin of the Antichrist’s kingdom is declared by the Apostle Paul,
“Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,
and for this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe
a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in
unrighteousness.”[45] In our article,
“The Antichrist Unveiled”, much of the signs and lying wonders of the Papal
System was pointed out. Its machinations,
however, will have come to completion only when it has rejected the
Christ of history, and has received “the christ of Satan”, which “christ”
is “enlightenment”,
“Ultimate Mystery” and “self realization”. The Lord in His Word
has foretold the destruction of Antichrist’s reign as “…that Wicked…
whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming.”[46] In the meantime,
the victory of the Gospel is present for those
who wait on Him. His power has always been greatest in the day
of utmost need. The character of God in His gracious Gospel is “the
spirit of his mouth”. This
has been understood and lived out as “the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth.”[47] We see His
power as we boldly proclaim His
graciousness, every individual who is saved “being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”[48]
Conclusion
What has been shown here regarding Catholic mysticism’s outright invasion
of Evangelicalism and its commandeering of New Age verbiage and paraphernalia,
should cause serious individuals to examine carefully the foundation
upon which his or her hopes are built. A mere “I hope I am saved”
is not enough, nothing short
of the full assurance of faith on the solid Rock, the Lord Christ Jesus,
will suffice. It is in God’s light, and in it only, that “we see
light.”[49] True Christians
interpret all religious experience by the normative revelation of God
recorded for them in the Holy Bible. The wicked love darkness;
but God’s people love the
Light! Mystics have not scrupled openly to equate the true God
with “the god” within. They have thought to divest themselves of
God Himself by turning to inward
self-realization and enlightenment. Rather, the values that they
set are based on personal inner feelings that are often incapable of reasoned
explanation. The Gospel
is the exact opposite, the historical message of the Cross of Christ
for a lost world. The Gospel proclaims Christ Himself, and the God
and Father of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, who in His love gave His Son to die for sinners.
There is no valid excuse for true believers to be deceived by “false apostles”,
who transform
themselves into the “apostles of Christ”, “for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light.”[50] There
are many false prophets gone out into the world, if
we study diligently these things, which God has recorded for our safeguard
against the subtle deceptions of Satan, we will not mislead nor be misled.
True believers
in Christ must take to heart solemn warnings of the Apostle Paul, “Be
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? … be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”[51]
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them.”[52]
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve”
In 1986, Pope John Paul II seized the inter-faith initiative by gathering
160 of the world’s religious leaders for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy.
They flew in from
around the globe, Islamic Mullahs from nine nations, the Dalai Lama,
(traditionally regarded by Buddhists as a living deity), native American
Shamans and Indian
cultists, African animists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Catholics and, of
course, Protestants. “We will stand side by side asking God to give
us peace,” declared the
Pope.[53] The grand encore to this initial
dramatization of Luciferian unity occurred in January 2002, as Pope John
Paul II led 200 leaders of different religions
once again at Assisi, Italy. By public demonstration, by official
sanction, in countless books and seminars, as well as WebPages with broad
ecumenical support,
Popedom has set a mystical agenda, which the world loves and accepts.
Any believer or confessing fellowship group that remains silent in the
face of such
bald-faced blasphemy inevitably lends credence to the Pope’s deceit.
For Rome still assumes her ancient legal principle to stand, “He who is
silent is understood to
consent.”[54] “The lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind,”[55] are
Satan’s strongholds in the souls of many as proud conceits;
exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. The Lord God Almighty
commands each one of us to cast “down imaginations, and every high thing
that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”[56]¨
To begin research into this topic we recommend A Time of Departing:
How a Universal Spirituality Is Changing the Face of Christianity by Ray
Yungen
(Silverton, OR 97381-0958: Lighthouse Trails, 2002 or ltpublishing77@aol.com).
Yungen exposes in a clear, balanced, and documented manner Catholic,
Evangelical and New Age mysticism. This book is a basic primmer
to understand the creeping pestilence of mysticism that is enveloping Western
society and
Protestant Churches. To alert other Christians you can print
and copy this article. Also freely available is the very important
article “The Evangelical Attraction
to Mysticism” by Alan Morrison on our Webpage. “Then shall
ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him
that serveth God
and him that serveth him not.”[57]
[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second edition (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997) Para. 181
[2] See our articles on “The Alignment of New Evangelicals with Apostasy”,
“The Roman Catholic-Lutheran ‘Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification’”
and
“Biblical Unity or Papal Conformity?”
[3] Vatican Council II Documents, No. 56, Nostra Aetate, “Declaration
on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,”, 28 Oct. 1965,
Vol. I, Para. 2,
p. 739.
[4] William Johnston, The Mirror Mind (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990) p. 7
[5] Ibid., p. 33, 39
[6] Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Image edition
Dec. 1989 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966) pp. 157, 158.
This book has
official Roman Catholic approval.
[7] William Shannon, Seeds of Peace Contemplation and Non-Violence (New York: Crossroad Publ. Co, 1996) p. 73
[8] Thich Nhat Hanh, Introduction to Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, Image Book edition (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1996) p. 5
[9] http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jan1997/feature1.asp 10/8/2002
The website also states that Merton died in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968,
apparently electrocuted by a faulty room fan.
[10] John 3:3
[11] John 16:8
[12] Colossians 1:12-13
[13] Foster, Richard J., Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (San Francisco: Harper, 1992) p. 155
[14] Ibid., p 159
[15] Thomas Keating, "The Method of Centering Prayer" http://www.thecentering.org/centering 10/22/02
[16] Acts 17:23
[17] www.watchman.org/reltop/unbiblcl.htm 11/11/02
[18] www.watchman.org/reltop/unbiblcl.htm 11/11/02
[19] Michael Horton, The Agony of Deceit (Chicago: Moody Press, 1990) p. 91
[20] www.caseytreat.org/godsword Being_In_Christ 11/11/02
[21] Benny Hinn, Catholic Mystic www.deceptioninthechurch.com/hinncatholic.htm 11/11/02
[22] Isaiah 42:8
[23] Isaiah 8:20
[24] OFFICIAL APOSTOLIC LETTER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II “NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE”
http://www.vatican.va/holy_fa ther/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-mill ennio-ineunte_en.html+Novo+Millennio+Ineunte (Para 27, 33 )Bolding in any quotation indicates emphasis added in this paper.
[25] Titus 3:5
[26] Matthew 22:37
[27] I Corinthians 14:15
[28] Colossians 2:18
[29] Ezekiel 13:3
[30] Ephesians 1:10
[31] Hebrews 1:3
[32] John 17:4
[33] Ephesians 1:21
[34] John 17:2
[35] Philippians 2:10-11
[36] I John 3:23
[37] I Timothy 2:5
[38] Song of Solomon 6:10
[39] John 17:3
[40] II Peter 1:3
[41] Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity (New York, NY: Lucis Publ. Co., 1964) p. 152
[42] Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957) p. 510.
[43] This fact of syncretism in the EU we wish to deal with in our next newsletter.
[44] Shannon, Seeds of Peace, p 25.
[45] II Thessalonians 2:10b-12
[46] II Thessalonians 2:8
[47] Romans 1:16.
[48] Romans 3:24.
[49] Psalm 36:9
[50] II Corinthians 11:13-14
[51] II Corinthians 6:14,15,17
[52] Ephesians 5:11
[53] L’Osservatore Romano, English version of the official Vatican newspaper, Oct. 27, 1986, p. 1
[54] “Qui tacet consentire videtur.”
[55] Ephesians 2:3
[56] 2 Corinthians 10:5
[57] Malachi 3:18