By Berit KjosNovember 29, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
NewsWithViews.com
Giving thanks to an unknown "god"
"My own faith is rooted in the unshakable belief in God... and an awareness of a constant and holy spiritual presence in all people, all life, and all things."[1] Former vice president, Al Gore
"I am a Christian.... I believe that there are many paths to the same place.... I am a great admirer of our founding charter... and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country.... I think Gandhi is a great example of a profoundly spiritual man who... never slipped into intolerance or dogma."[2] Former Senator, Barack Obama
“Lift us to the level of the universal…. Chant the names of the gods. Start with om: Om Krishna… Om Buddha…"[3] A United Religions worship service (UR was founded by an Anglican bishop)
"The Buddha said, ‘You are God yourself.’”[4] Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol
If you have read 1984 by George Orwell, you probably remember Big Brother's mind-changing creed:
"War is PEACE. Freedom is SLAVERY. Ignorance is STRENGTH."[5]
It illustrates the Soviet double-speak used to confuse, transform, and then unify a compliant mass of contented slaves. And now, seventy years after its publication, Orwellian double-speak is spreading this confusion faster than ever. In this upside-down world, wrong seems right, good is called evil, and lies are simply the new convenient truths. Since feelings count more than facts, illusion reigns, oppression spreads, Jihad is justified, and the Bible is banned!
The true God behind our national Thanksgiving celebrations doesn't conform to America's changing values. But other spiritual options are filling the gaps as they sweep across our land. Blinding eyes to His truth, they cloud history, and mock the faith that built honesty, truth, and integrity into America's foundation. Sad to say, that foundation is now crumbling fast. As God warned us,
"...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them... [then] your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God. ...you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ ...if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods... you shall surely perish." Deuteronomy 8:10-19 [See Warnings]
THE RISE OF A GLOBAL SPIRITUALITY
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On September 17, 1995, I signed in at Mikhail Gorbachev's well guarded State of the World Conference as an official [amateur] reporter. I wanted a first-hand glimpse of the global plans for the 21st Century -- plans that helped build the foundation for today's rapid change.
This was clearly a global event. The former head of the Soviet Union had gathered "nearly 500 senior states-people, political leaders, spiritual leaders, scientists, intellectuals, business executives, artists and youth from 50 nations to begin a process of deliberation on the central question of what priorities, values and actions should guide humanity as it moves into the next phase of development."[6] As Gorbachev announced,
"From the outset I would like to suggest that we consider the establishment of a global Brain Trust [forget representative government] to focus on the present and future of our civilization ... this idea of a Brain Trust can only succeed if endorsed and actively pursued by people who are widely respected as world leaders and global citizens."[7]
The elite speakers and partners in this venture included the elder president George Bush, Carnegie Chairman David Hamburg, Ted Turner, Maurice Strong ( the New Age head of the UN's 1992 environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro), and Zbigniew Brzezinski, founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller. Thirteen years later he became a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama.
An elegant Baha'i singer in a flowing white gown set the spiritual tone with a prayer to her universal god: "O faithful One... O helping one... Source of all being..." The music was her own, she said -- given by the unknowable, compassionate god of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and other spiritual avatars throughout time.
Her prayer-song fit the conference theme. As Mikhail Gorbachev observed during a dialogue on a new form of democracy,
"...there was no trace of the futile debate about what is better, capitalism or socialism.... We should seek a synthesis of ideas and values that have proven their viability..."[7]
That synthesis abolishes all Biblical absolutes. Again and again, the Communist leader and his hand-picked "council of the wise" or "global brain trust" told the assembly of more than 1000 guests and participants that a new set of inclusive universal values must replace the Judeo-Christian world view. Familiar terms must be redefined to fit the new global perspective, while the old beliefs and political systems must be abandoned.
Like many other speakers, New Age author Dr. Deepak Chopra repeated the call for synthesis in his evening plenary speech. He challenged his friendly listeners with this question:
"Can you step out of the river of your own conditioning...? For only then is there an opportunity to create... a new world. We cannot do it the way we have done it in the past. It is time to change the whole paradigm through which we view physical reality."[7]
Apparently, these esteemed visionaries had already made that paradigm shift. The conference left little doubt that the chosen speakers and enthusiastic audience viewed reality from a decidedly evolutionary/universalist perspective -- the kind that popular author Dan Brown promoted through his latest book on the philosophy behind Freemasonry and the mystical Noetic Sciences.
The spiritual leaders addressing the Forum taught either pantheism ("God" in all), universalism (all paths lead to the same ultimate reality), or monism (all is one) as the world's new spiritual foundation. Among them were New Age educator Willis Harman, Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, Sonia Gandhi, and revered representatives of Vietnamese, Mongolian, and Cambodian Buddhism. Their input during panel discussion and roundtable sessions left no doubt that Biblical Christianity was marked for decay.
Astronomer Carl Sagan showed us pictures of our tiny blue planet in the midst of a vast galaxy in an infinite universe --- then scolded those who still viewed minuscule individuals as significant pieces of the cosmic puzzle.
Had they forgotten the horrors of collectivism -- and the environmental devastation -- spawned by the Communist ideology that Gorbachev never renounced?
MURDER, MYSTICISM AND IMMORALITY
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Sam Keen, author of "Fire in the Belly," gave the closing plenary message:
"...there was very strong agreement that religious institutions have to take primary responsibility for the population explosion.... Cut the population by 90 percent and there aren't enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage."[7]
The applause was deafening!
Kill millions of people? How? What happened to love, compassion, and concern for the poor? These leaders had called for poverty programs, gun control, and global financial redistribution as if they wanted to save lives. Were these schemes simply a stepping stone toward global control? Did no one care about the individual lives behind the faceless masses?
As in the former Soviet Union, an ordinary person's life becomes worthless in this pragmatic context for global management! The illusive "common good" becomes little more than an Orwellian phrase that limits personal rights and freedom -- but promotes unrestrained immorality. Notice the way Keen rationalizes his values in these quotes from "Hymns to an Unknown God":
"Imagination allows us to sample in fantasy what is inexpedient or demonic to act out. Dionysus, the [Greek] god of excess and ecstasy [same as the Roman god Bacchus], rules supreme in dreamland.... An amoral imagination provides us with the experience in dreamtime of living 'beyond good and evil' that is necessary for the development of Compassion."[8]
That's what mysticism is all about! Experience -- the spiritual experience of an unknown god! A deceptive journey into the realm of demons where lies and licentiousness reign! Perhaps he doesn't realize that such captivating immoral "ideals" have eroded freedom and destroyed lives since the beginning of time.
It's not surprising that Christianity has aroused such hatred. God's Truth -- in contrast to amoral, feel-good myths -- is full of warnings that we ignore at our peril. For example,
"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5
THE SPREADING DARKNESS
The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's latest book includes a dialogue between Robert Langdon (the friendly protagonist) and Peter Solomon (his older friend and mentor, a respected professor, a 33rd degree Mason and the Supreme Worshipful Master). The two men are exploring the Masonic signs, symbols, and secrets hidden in the Washington Monument, an Egyptian obelisk. Notice how God's Word is twisted into a mystical icon of all religions.
“Robert, the Bible does not talk openly for the same reason the Ancient Mystery Schools were kept hidden.... for the same reason the neophytes had to be initiated before learning the secret teachings of the ages.... The Ancient Mysteries and the Bible are the same thing.'...
“Peter, the Bible and the Ancient Mysteries are total opposites. The mysteries are all about the god within you. . . man as god. The Bible is all about the God above you...'
“Yes! Exactly! ... The moment mankind separated himself from God, the true meaning of the Word was lost. The voices of the ancient masters have now been drowned out, lost in the chaotic din of self-proclaimed practitioners [probably pointing to Christians] shouting that they alone understand the Word....'
“We’ve lost the Word, and yet its true meaning is still within reach.... It exists in all the enduring texts, from the Bible to the Bhagavad-Gita to the Koran and beyond. All of these texts are revered upon the altars of Freemasonry because Masons understand what the world seems to have forgotten... that each of these texts, in its own way, is quietly whispering the exact same message.' Peter’s voice welled with emotion. ‘Know ye not that ye are gods?’...
"Peter lowered his voice to a whisper. 'The Buddha said, ‘You are God yourself.’ ... Even the first antipope—Hippolytus of Rome—quoted the same message, first uttered by the gnostic teacher Monoimus: ‘Abandon the search for God. . . instead, take yourself as the starting place.'...
“'A wise man once told me,' Peter said, his voice faint now, 'the only difference between you and God is that you have forgotten you are divine.'”[9]
This deception is the fulfillment of the serpent's promise in Genesis 3: "You will be like God." That has been the driving force within occult orders through the ages. Now it's coming out into the open.
One of the first public celebrities to proclaim this arrogant lie was New Age movie star Shirley MacLaine. "I am God," she shouted to the world back in the 1980s.
I met her at the end of Gorbachev's conference. She happened to walk by, and I asked her what she thought of the conference.
"It was good. It helped raise consciousness," she answered.
"But wouldn't it have raised more consciousness if one of the meals had just been rice instead of gourmet meats and elegant desserts?" I asked. After all, some speakers had emphasized global equality and concern for the poor.
She frowned. "People paid a lot of money to come here," she answered. "They deserved good food."
As George Orwell pointed out, some people in socialist collectives are meant to be "more equal than others!" In a totalitarian system, all the thanks must go to the state and/or its elite rulers -- "equal" or not!
ALL THE MORE, WE WILL THANK OUR GOD!
Both socialism and idolatry have a way of building a sense of entitlement: "I deserve it." But with God, it's different! We don't deserve any of His wonderful gifts! Yet His undeserved grace is available for all who will trust and follow Him!
"...thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ!" 2 Corinthians 2:14
[Order Berit's book Brave New Schools]
Endnotes
1, Al Gore, Earth in the Balance; Ecology and the Human Spirit (Houghton Mifflin, 1992), p. 265.
2, Cathleen Falsani, Interview with State Sen. Barack Obama, March 27, 2004, also see Purging the Memory of Our Christian Roots.
4, Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol ( Doubleday, 2009), p. 492.
6, Jim Garrison, President of the Gorbachev Foundation, Gorbachev's Plan For A United World.
7, Mikhail Gorbachev's State of the World Conference, September 17-21, 1995.
8, Sam Keen, Hymns to an Unknown God: Awakening the Spirit in Everyday Life (Bantam Book, 1994), pp.164, 82.
9, Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol ( Doubleday, 2009), pp. 491-492.
© 2009 Berit Kjos - All Rights Reserved
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