Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 13 as we continue our study through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. I have said in our previous studies, we are currently in a section of Paul’s letter that deals with application, applying the things of God found in the Word of God to our lives. It is a practical section, it is where the rubber meets the road you might say as Paul has spent the previous 11 chapters dealing with the doctrines of God and now he is showing us how to walk according to the high calling by which we have been called! And this section covers Romans chapter 12 through Romans 15:13.
Over the last 3 weeks we have been covering a section here in Romans chapter 13 that I have called, “It Is Time To Wake Up!” and Paul is speaking to the church, he is speaking to Christians. You see, the church seems to be asleep, not paying attention to what is going on around them and, as we have seen, all kinds of false doctrine have crept into the church. And when people speak out against the false doctrine they are called unloving, hateful, and they are making a big deal about nothing!
Folk’s, it is high time we awaken out of this spiritual sleep for Paul warned us back in II Timothy 3:1-5, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
Paul is not just speaking of the unsaved, but he is also speaking to those who look like they are saved, that they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power and that power is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Paul reminds us in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” You see, apart from Christ there is no power, and as much as I hate to say this, the church is moving away from the Jesus of the Bible and turning to an ecumenical Jesus, just one of the many ways to God!
I realize that is hard to believe but as you will see in our study this morning, this is a serious issue that we need to deal with. It is not that the church is going to go away, but the true church will get smaller if we continue down this path. And make no mistake about this, these false doctrines coming through the health, wealth and prosperity teaching, the seeker friendly teaching, the purpose driven teaching and now the emergent church is just a bridge that is being built to the one-world religion that is fast approaching!
Before we get to our text this morning, let me share this story with you. We are told:
F. E. Smith was a capable lawyer with a quick wit who served as the British attorney general from 1915 until 1919. On one occasion he cross-examined a young man claiming damages for an arm injury caused by the negligence of a bus driver. “Will you please show us how high you can lift your arm now?” asked Smith. The young man gingerly raised his arm to shoulder level, his face distorted with pain.
“Thank you,” said Smith. “And now, could you show us how high you could lift it before the accident?” The young man eagerly shot his arm up above his head.
He lost the case.
- Today in the Word, July 1995, p. 27
How does that story apply to us or to what we will be looking at this morning? Think about that for a minute. Say there is some false doctrine out there, how will you know what is true? By the Word of God exposing it and it will be just like this man who faked his injury and was caught. You see, when the light of God’s Word shines upon false doctrine, it will expose the falseness of it and yet, people today are more interested in the person than the person of Jesus Christ. People today are more interested in the words others are saying instead of what God has said in His Word! With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 13, starting in verse 11 and see what the Lord has for us this morning as we continue looking at this topic regarding the church awakening out of her spiritual sleep!
As you read through these verses you can clearly see the urgency in Paul’s words and the reason is simple. The Lord’s return is getting closer and we need to be alert, we need to pay attention to what is happening around us because the workers of darkness will increase and we, as the light, need to shine even brighter. But that will not happen unless we place our lives on the altar of sacrifice as a living sacrifice unto God. It will not happen unless we have our minds transformed by the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God. It will not happen unless we surrender our lives to the will of God! In other words, it is total consecration to God and that is how you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you surrender to Him!
In Matthew 24:42-44 Jesus gave to us this warning, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Jesus is speaking of being prepared, not sleeping, not
meandering through life not knowing what is going on, but be aware
that His return is getting close. You see, if you knew what time
a thief was going to break into your house, you would be prepared
for him. And Jesus is just using this illustration for us to be
ready for His return because it is going to come and the signs
are everywhere, but for many it will be a time that they don’t
expect because they are not ready!
Let me share with you a few quotes, I will expound on them
as I go through them, but listen carefully to what they are saying.
The first quote is from Dr. Norman Geisler and he wrote, “A
mystical maze has settled on our land. Fuzzy thinking is the order
of the day. The Good Ship Evangelicalism is sailing without rational
rudders in the hazy sea of subjectivity.”
That
was written back in 1988; over 20 years ago and today the ship
is lost. There is no direction because we have moved away from
the Word of God and thus, whichever way the wind of new doctrine
blows, that is the direction the church is going!
There is an online Internet German magazine that is called
Spiegel and it states, “The mega churches mushrooming in
the United States are mammoth feel-good temples providing entertainment
for one and all.” How sad that this is said in a secular
media and not noticed in churches today in America!
And listen to what James Montgomery Boice wrote almost
10 years ago, “Like the liberals before us, evangelicals
use the Bible’s words but give them new meaning, pouring
bad secular content into spiritual terminology. Sin becomes dysfunctional
behavior. Salvation becomes self-esteem or wholeness. Jesus becomes
more of an example for right living than a Savior from sin. Again
people are told how to have happy marriages and raise nice children
but not how to get right with the offended God. . . . Far be it
from us to preach a gospel that would expose people’s sin,
make them uncomfortable, and drive them to the Savior.”
He nails it, that is exactly what we see in the church
today and it is very dangerous as Bible words get New Age ideas
as their new definition!
Let me share with you these words from Warren B. Smith in his book, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel. He wrote:
According to the “new gospel,” Christ is not a person. It is an office. The “new gospel” teaches that while Jesus of Nazareth occupied the office during His active ministry, He no longer holds that same position. Today the office of “Christ” is occupied by someone else. And this “someone else” is presently in the process of establishing contact with humanity. This “Christ” intimates that he is already in the world awaiting mankind’s call.
Concerned that humanity is in peril and facing possibly extinction, this “Christ” explains that his “new gospel” will unify the world’s major religions and bring peace to the world. He has communicated these “new gospel” teachings to his designated teachers, who in turn are now conveying these same teachings to the rest of the world.
This “reinvented” Christ of the “new gospel” teaches that all of humanity is the body of Christ. He, as the “Christ,” is the head. This “Christ” states humanity’s dilemmas that we have forgotten who we are. We are not “sinners” separate from God. We are all part of the one body of Christ and the one body of God. Salvation does not come by grace from accepting Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Rather it is achieved — when we accept ourselves as Christ and when we accept ourselves as God.
The “new gospel” teaches that when humanity collectively accepts and experiences itself as being a part of Christ and a part of God, we not only save ourselves, we save our world. The “Christ” of the “new gospel” warns that the hour is late. Peace must come. He will help. He has a plan. But everyone must play their part.
- Warren B. Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel, p. 6
This morning I want to show you how the church is buying into this new gospel that is out there and it is ushering in the last days church of Laodicea, the lukewarm church, the church the ends up having Jesus on the outside knocking to get in! And please understand that this is not just one group or organization but it is many groups, many organizations that are secular and religious that are moving this forward and this has been building up for years, it is not a new idea!
It is as H. D. McDonald warned us, “[T]hat the church should itself lose grip on the historic gospel and instead give its blessing to what it considers best in the spirit of the age. There are churches that have gone overboard in their efforts to be in sympathy with the pseudo humanism of their time and who tell men, even the poorest of prodigals and the blackest of scoundrels, that they are better than they are painted; that they have more of Christ in them than they know; that they can, if they will, with one stroke of a strong determination break through their hard shells and release in themselves the slumbering divinity and so give expression to their true humanism.” (H. D. McDonald, The Atonement of the Death of Christ, p. 16).
He also wrote, “A gospel robbed of its rapport with man’s real need as a sinner and a redemption that has no relation to the divine holiness are not the power of God for man’s salvation. Today to speak to the time is to proclaim to it the apostolic gospel that is for all times. It is not shoring up that a man needs but cleaning out, not just nudges of encouragement to strive harder but a divine word to relieve his guilt. It is not pep talks he needs but a new life; not stimulus but salvation. The one thing that the human heart most sorely requires is the thing that the church is commissioned to give: the gospel of a radical redemption. When once a church dilutes that gospel, it cannot grow, neither does it live.” (H. D. McDonald, The Atonement of the Death of Christ, p. 16).
Please listen carefully to this. The greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ has always been and will always be FALSE TEACHING! What about persecution and the world coming against believers! Think about what that affects, it only affects the physical, the temporary while false teaching is spiritual and it can be eternal in its damages to people’s lives! And please understand that this false teaching is not only from outside the church, but also from within, coming from a group of people that we might call THE PRETENDERS, those who say they believe but in realty, by what they are teaching, they are not believers!
Notice what Jude tells us regarding these pretenders and what we are to do staring in verse 3, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 3-4.
What is an apostate? It is someone who knows about God, knows about Jesus, receives what the Bible says but only superficially, he is not a believer but a pretender! So they look like believers, but they are not and that is the danger. They speak with flashy words, they speak is if they have the truths of God, but they do not! Apostates never make a genuine commitment to God; they only make a superficial one. Yes they know the truth but they never apply the truth to their lives!
Tragically we see many Christians today taking on the mentality of a pacifist, they are antiwar, and thus, they don’t fight for anything, even the faith that has been entrusted to them. Thus, they go with the flow, they don’t want to cause trouble, and they allow the lies, the false doctrine to grow because they are not willing to fight the good fight of faith that God has entrusted to them! The Greek word for “earnestly contend” is EPAGONIZOMAI, (ep-ag-o-nid’-zom-ahee).
It is a word that was related to an athletic competition, it speaks of being diligent, to agonize earnestly, it speaks of hard work, not pacifism! And this word is in the present infinitive, which means it is a continuous struggle for us as Christians! It will continue until the Lord comes. We are in a battle and like Paul exhorted Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith” in I Timothy 6:12. It is not time to give up or give in because lives are at stake!
Now what is this faith that Jude is speaking of, that Jude is exhorting us to fight for? Jude is speaking of “the essential truths of the Gospel that all true Christians hold in common.” Thus, we must earnestly contend for the truths of God found in the Word of God! Now, do we see that happening in the church today, this departure from the truths of God found in the Word of God? Yes and the reason is simple, many are not contending earnestly for this faith, they are unwilling to fight this good fight of faith! You see, it is not about what I believe or what you believe, but it is the Gospel message, the truths of God found in the Word of God!
Also note that Jude says that this faith “was once for all delivered to the saints.” Have you ever heard someone say something like this, “We are living in different and difficult times from when the Bible was written and thus, we must adapt the Bible to the way we are currently living, to fit in with the culture of our day!” Sorry, but what God has said is unchanging, it has been delivered and we don’t need new revelations or a new Gospel for the days we are living in. It is as Erdman put it, “There is no other gospel, there will be none. Its content will be more fully understood, its implications will be developed, its predictions will be fulfilled; but it will never be supplemented or succeeded or supplanted.”
But again you will hear people talk about a new gospel, a new revelation, making Christianity relevant for our day, the evolution of our faith and that is nothing more than false teaching, unsound teaching because God’s Word is complete, it does not need to be updated, God knew what we needed and when we would need it and it is in His Word and we can trust it. This faith has been entrusted to us, may we not lay it aside or hide it.
Remember the story of Josiah the king in Judah, how he had the temple repaired. And inside the temple, amongst all the garbage that was stored there was the Word of God and it was brought out. And it was at the reading of the Word of God that the people repented and a revival broke out, although short lived. That is what we need today, for the Word of God to be brought out from all the garbage it has been placed behind and it needs to be spoken, it needs to be taught, it needs to be applied to our lives! And if it isn’t, it just opens the doors for these false teachers with their false doctrines to spread their message and many will never know it is not of God! And tragically, these false teachers are no longer creeping into the church but they are flooding in and being welcomed, the door is opened up to them!
What I like to do right now, with the rest of our time this morning, is show you what the New Age teachers are saying and then next week we will look at how the church has also embraced these teachings. I want to lay the groundwork to show you that the falling away, the apostasy has already begun and it is picking up speed! And the reason this is happening before our very eyes is because the church is asleep and it has been asleep for a while!
Let’s being with Helen Schucman and her Course in Miracles. We are told:
In 1965 Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology, Helen Schucman, heard an “inner voice” saying, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” Schucman’s initial resistance was overcome when the “inner voice,” identifying itself as “Jesus,” told her the purpose of the Course [i.e., A Course in Miracles, ed.]:
The world situation
is worsening to an alarming degree. People all over the world
are being called on to help, and are making their individual contributions
as part of an overall prearranged plan. Part of the plan is taking
down A Course in Miracles, and I am fulfilling my part in the
agreement, as you will fulfill yours. You will be using abilities
you developed long ago, and which you are not really ready to
use again. Because of the acute emergency, however, the usual
slow, evolutionary process is being by-passed in what might best
be described as a “celestial speed-up.”
Baffled by her assignment, but nevertheless obliging, the skeptical Schucman diligently took dictation from this “inner voice.” In the seven and a half years of cumulative dictation that became A Course in Miracles, Schucman’s “Jesus” presents a whole new way of looking at the world. Using Christian terminology, sophisticated psychology, and convincing authority, Schucman’s “Jesus” teaches a completely different gospel than the one found in the Bible. His “new gospel” wholly contradicts the Bible’s Gospel of Jesus Christ. Schucman’s “inner voice,” while claiming to be Jesus, actually opposes everything for which the Bible’s Jesus stands. . . .
The Course teaches that while “Christ” is in
Jesus, so “Christ” is in everyone — and that the
“Christ” in everyone is their divine connection with
God and with each other.
The Course teaches that a “slain Christ has no meaning.” It states that wrong thinking has produced the “misperception” that man is a “sinner” and that he needs an external Christ to save him from his “sins.” The Course teaches that correcting our “misperceptions” has nothing to do with Jesus’ death on the cross. Correction comes from what the Course calls the “Atonement” (“at-one-ment”).
This “Atonement,” or “atoning,” is when
each person remembers and affirms and experiences their “oneness”
(at-onement) with God and creation. The “Atonement”
is the Course’s key to undoing “fear” and dispelling
the illusion that man is “separate” from God. The Course
stresses that the healing of the world is dependent upon each
person’s fulfilling their atonement “function”
to teach this “oneness” to the world. When everyone
comes to understand that “all is love and all is God”
then “inner peace” and world peace will finally happen.
Only “fear” and the illusion of “separation”
stand in the way of man’s attaining this peace for himself
and his world.
- Warren B. Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel, pp. 9-10
What I want you to notice in these statements we are reading is that Jesus is speaking, not the Jesus of the Bible, and a very similar message is being given by theses spirit guides who call themselves Jesus. It is a message that God is love, that we are God, that all creation is God and we are all working together. That there is no sin and we are not separated from God! What a doctrine of demons and not at all from Jesus! Listen to just a few of the statements that her Jesus gave to her.
These
are direct quotes from the “Jesus” of The Course in
Miracles:
There is no separation of God
and His creation. (Text, p. 147)
God is All in all in a very
literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are therefore
in Him since your being is His. (Text, p. 119)
The recognition of God is the
recognition of yourself. (Text, p. 147)
When God created you He made
you part of Him. (Text, p. 100)
Everyone God created is part
of you and shares His Glory with you. (Text, p. 174)
Is he [Jesus] the Christ? O
yes, along with you. His little life on earth was not enough to
teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all of you. (Manual,
p. 87)
The Name of Jesus Christ as
such is but a symbol. It is a symbol that is safely used as a
replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.
(Manual, p. 58)
Christ is God’s Son as
He created Him. He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another,
and with God as well. (Workbook, p. 431)
For Christ takes many forms
with different names until their oneness can be recognized. (Manual,
p. 88)
Christ is the link that keeps
you one with God. (Workbook, p. 431)
Do not make the pathetic error
of clinging to the old rugged cross. The only message of the crucifixion
is that you can overcome the cross. Until then you are free to
crucify yourself as often as you choose. This is not the Gospel
I intended to offer you. (Text, p. 52)
Then there is Barbara Marx Hubbard and we are told of her:
Self-described futurist and “conscious
evolutionist” Barbara Marx Hubbard writes that in 1966 she
heard an “inner voice” that came in response to a question
she had asked aloud and directed to God — “What is our
story? What in our age is comparable to the birth of Christ?”
After asking the question she said she fell into a dreamlike state
and was given an intense vision of the future.
In the vision Hubbard saw the earth from a distance. She
was made to understand that the earth was a living body and that
she was a cell in its body. Feeling her “oneness” with
the earth, she experienced its pain and confusion. [Sounds like
the movie Avatar!] When her vision abruptly fast-forwarded into
the future, she could see the earth and its people were now surrounded
by a radiant light. She watched as the whole planet was “aligned”
in “a magnetic field of love” and lifted up by the brilliant
light. Widespread healings took merging of their own “inner
light” with the bright light that was surrounding them. A
tremendous force emanating from the light sent powerful currents
of joyful energy “rippling” through the body of humanity.
The world celebrated as all the Earth was born again. The pain
and confusion were gone. Love had prevailed. The “inner voice”
told her to spread the message of the vision. It said:
Our story is a birth. It is the birth of humankind as one
body. What Christ and all great beings came to Earth to reveal
is true. We are one body, born into this universe. GO TELL THE
STORY OF OUR BIRTH… Barbara!
. . . Through the years Hubbard has received voluminous
information from her “Christ.” In her 1993 book, The
Revelation: Our Crisis Is a Birth (later renamed The Revelation:
A Message of Hope for the New Millennium), Hubbard and “Christ”
“rewrite” the Bible’s Book of Revelation. In The
Revelation Hubbard’s “Christ” provides specific
instructions on how a united humanity, purposefully partnering
with God, can literally re-create the future. Hubbard’s Christ
teaches that the “violent” Armageddon script described
in the Bible does not have to happen, that it is only a “possible”
future, emphasizing that a more “positive” future can
and will manifest when humanity — without exception —
openly declares its “oneness” with him and all creation.
This positive scenario and the means to attaining it is called
“the alternative to Armageddon.”
Hubbard’s “Christ” describes how planet Earth
is at an evolutionary crossroads. He states that the world is
about to make an evolutionary leap that will take all creation
to a new level. Those who awaken to their own divinity, by aligning
themselves as one with God and one with each other, will evolve.
Those who continue to believe in “fear” and “separation,”
rather than in “love” and “oneness,” will
not evolve. Hubbard’s “Christ” claims that with
his help most of mankind will choose to evolve, calling this evolutionary
leap “the Planetary Birth Experience.” He refers to it as the coming time of “Planetary Pentecost.”
The “birth experience” is a shared event in the future,
an “Instant of Co-operation,” when everyone on the planet
will be mysteriously changed in “the twinkling of an eye,”
as humanity is collectively born again into a new creation.
Those who evolve will actually become a new species as Homosapiens
is collectively transformed into Homo universalis,
or the “Universal Humanity.”
The “Universal
Humanity” will live together as a community of “natural
Christs” in the “New Heaven” on the “New Earth”
that is the “New Jerusalem.
But Hubbard’s “Christ,” while describing
the “birth experience” and affirming his love for all
mankind, nevertheless warns that there will be no place in the
“New Jerusalem” for those who refuse to see themselves
and others as a part of God. He describes, therefore, the necessity
of a “selection process” that will select out resistant
individuals who “choose” not to evolve. This “selection
process” is a “purification” that will be accomplished
through “the shock of a fire.”
“Christ” states that those who see themselves
as “separate” and not divine hinder humanity’s
ability to spiritually evolve. Those who deny their own “divinity”
are “cancer cells” in the body of God. “Christ”
warns that a healthy body must have no cancer cells. Cancer cells
must be healed or completely removed from the body. He describes
the means of removal as the “selection process.” The
“selection process” results in the deaths of those who
refuse to see themselves as a part of God.
After the “selection process” the spirit bodies
of the departed individuals will continue to be “purified”
in the spirit realm. Hubbard’s “Christ” emphasizes
that they
will
not be given another physical body and they will not be able to
rejoin humanity until
they
rid themselves of all “self-centeredness.” He defines
“self-centeredness” as “the illusion” that
one is “separate” from God. The self-centered temptation
to see oneself as “separate,” and not as a part of God,
is “evil” and must be “overcome.” He also
refers to self-centeredness, or this illusion of separateness,
as “Satan.”
In the future described by Hubbard’s “Christ”
anyone who refuses to see themselves and others as “God”
and “Christ” will be removed by the “selection
process.”
- Warren B. Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel, pp. 14-16
Now you tell me if that is the Christ of the Bible speaking or some demon imitating Christ and speaking these things. And isn’t it interesting that we are the ones, Bible believing Christians who are standing in the way of this spiritual evolution you might say! And thus, we must be removed, how they do not say but according to Revelation, those that come to Christ during the Tribulation Period will be beheaded for their faith or what they would call the “Selection Process.” And maybe this is how they will explain away the Rapture, that we were removed because we were preventing peace to take place on this earth! Interesting to think about. And what I want you to notice is that these demons are giving basically the same message, and many are listening! And there is more! We are told:
In 1992 Neale Donald Walsch, a disillusioned and distraught former radio talk show host, public relations professional, and longtime metaphysical seeker, sat down one night and wrote God an angry letter. He was amazed when “God” immediately answered his letter by speaking to him through an inner voice. That night, and in subsequent conversations, Walsch wrote down all of the dictated answers to his questions. The dictation continued for several years.
Walsch’s Conversations with God: Book 1 was published in 1995 and became the first in a series of best-selling Conversations with God books. It seemed that in Walsch “God” had found yet another willing channel for his “new gospel” teachings. . . .
Walsch’s “God” warns that in the near future people will have to make a choice between the “old” and “new” gospels. The choice they make will have great bearing on the future of mankind. “God” declares that humanity, by collectively imagining and envisioning its highest hopes and dreams, can consciously create a positive future. “God” expresses great optimism that the “new gospel” will prevail and tells Walsch that humanity is standing on the threshold of a “golden” new age.
The twenty-first century will be the time of awakening,
of meeting The Creator Within. Many beings will experience Oneness
with God and with all of life.
This will be the beginning of the golden age of the New
Human, of which it has been written; the time of the universal
human, which has been eloquently described by those with deep
insight among you.
There are many such people in the world now — teachers
and messengers, Masters and visionaries — who are placing
this vision before humankind and offering tools with which to
create it. These messengers and visionaries are the heralds of
a New Age. . . .
“God” is very specific about how this spiritualization of politics should ultimately manifest itself.
“God:” Something
will have to be new if you wish your world to change. You must
begin to see someone else’s interests as your own. This will
happen only when you reconstruct your global reality and govern
yourselves accordingly.
Walsch: Are
you talking about a one-world government?
“God:” I am.
“God” exhorts Walsch to carry out his mission to change the world and to bring in a spiritually-based new world order by issuing this charge:
Go, therefore, and teach ye all nations, spreading far
and wide The New Gospel: WE ARE ALL ONE.
- Warren B. Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel, pp. 20, 22-23
Neale Donald Walsch is not only speaking of a one world religion, but also a one world government just as the Bible tells us will take place and the world is being prepared for it and the church is sleeping through it all! Shame on us!
And one more point I want to make and that is the coming of this new Christ or I should say the coming of the Antichrist! We are told:
In February 1982 Wayne Peterson, a director of the U.S. Government’s Fulbright Scholarship Program, was relaxing in his Washington D.C. home looking for something to watch on TV. His interest was piqued when he noticed popular talk show host Merv Griffin holding up a book entitled The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Peterson, a former Peace Corps volunteer and veteran American diplomat, writes that his first thought was that the book had some “fundamentalist Christian message,” but he questioned why Griffin would be “promoting” this religious group on his show. Fascinated, he stayed tuned as Griffin interviewed the book’s author, British artist and esotericist Benjamin Creme. Peterson recalls what transpired in the interview:
Maitreya’s purpose, Creme indicated, was to help us realize our innate divinity through learning to live in right relationship as brothers and sisters of one great family. The first step was to establish sharing as the way to eliminate the poverty and starvation that caused millions around the world to die daily in the midst of plenty. Maitreya was emerging in time to help us save ourselves and the planet, and would make himself known to all in a televised ‘Day of Declaration’ soon to come.
As Peterson listened to Creme and heard about Maitreya, he recalled an incident from childhood. As a little boy in the midst of a life-threatening illness, he believed that he had been visited by “Mary,” the mother of Jesus. So powerful was her help and presence that he expressed his desire to depart with her rather than stay in the world. In her successful effort to convince him to stay in the world with his family, Peterson states that she told him the following:
I am going to tell you a secret that few now know. If
you stay with your family, you will see the Christ because he
will come to live with the people of the world.
Convinced that Maitreya was the “Christ” that “Mary” had promised would come, Peterson ordered Creme’s book. From his reading, he learned more about the “Christ” and his highly evolved disciples, the “Masters of Wisdom.” Peterson read how these Masters of Wisdom are supernaturally assisting in the evolution of humanity. From his reading, Peterson came to the conclusion that what we commonly refer to as angels are really “Christ” and these Masters of Wisdom. He read that in the future, as humanity transitions from the “old order” to a “new age,” there will be more and more open collaboration between these Masters of Wisdom and world leaders in all fields and disciplines. Reading Creme’s book, Peterson felt he was beginning to get the big picture.
As I read Creme’s book, I learned more about the
Christ, or World Teacher, whose personal name is Maitreya. He
is the one awaited by all the major religions albeit unknown to
them. The Christians wait for the return of the Christ, Buddhists
for the next Buddha, Muslims for the Imam Mahdi, Hindus for a
reincarnation of Krishna, and the Jews for the Messiah. These
are all different
names for one individual, Maitreya, who is here not as
a religious leader but as a teacher for all humanity.
Benjamin Creme, in The Reappearanceof the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, said:
In the esoteric tradition, the Christ is not the name
of an individual but of an Office in the Hierarchy. The present
holder of that Office, the Lord Maitreya, has held it for 2,600
years, and manifested in Palestine through His Disciple, Jesus,
by the occult method of overshadowing, the most frequent form
used for the manifestation of Avatars. He has never left the world,
but for 2,000 years has waited and planned for this immediate
future time, training His Disciples, and preparing Himself for
the awesome task which awaits Him. He has made it known that this
time, He Himself will come.
Wayne Peterson’s book, Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Beings, is his first person account of his personal involvement with Creme and Maitreya — what he experienced and what he was told. He writes that, amazingly, within weeks of seeing
Creme on Merv Griffin and reading his book, Creme actually came to Washington, D.C. Peterson was able to meet with him and other followers of Maitreya and participate in a special “Transmission Meditation.” Peterson said that this new form of meditation had been sent to humanity through Creme by one of the Masters of Wisdom. Peterson describes the meditation:
the Masters was ‘stepped down’ by the meditators
and made available to the world. In the process the meditators’
own spiritual development was enhanced manifold. I understood
that it was another way to help Maitreya and the Masters emerge
as soon as possible.
Peterson reports that he has had several dramatic personal encounters with Maitreya and that he directly experienced Maitreya’s extremely powerful spiritual energy. In describing one of those encounters Peterson writes:
people could experience this energy, they would discard
all their earthly notions of ‘paradise.’
Peterson quotes Maitreya in regards to experiencing “living truth.”
The Master is within you. If you follow the disciplines
of life the Teacher teaches you, the Master reveals himself within
you. Do not be attached to the human form. The living truth is
a matter of experience.
. . . Perhaps one of Peterson’s chief revelations is that one of the political figures who openly acknowledges that he is working with Maitreya to bring peace to the world is former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
There was one individual, however, who made it clear he had no problem with the public knowing he had met with the Christ. His name was Mikhail Gorbachev. Since he was now out of political power in his country, I assume he felt he had nothing to fear or lose from such a disclosure.
I was not surprised to learn this about Mr. Gorbachev,
since I had heard much earlier of his involvement with Maitreya
from a Pentagon official. I had also heard, from people I place
much confidence in, that Mrs. Gorbachev had been to India several
times to see the Avatar Sai Baba. I find it interesting that the
international press never questioned Mr. Gorbachev more about
his spiritual beliefs, since both he and his wife became Christians
during his term in office. From the freedom and openness he introduced
to the Soviet Union, it appeared obvious to me that he was being
influenced by the Christ. Eventually, we will hear more of this
story and how the Soviet empire collapsed.
What I appreciate about this story is the sure knowledge
that the Masters have already undertaken the task of offering
important world leaders a role in the coming global changes and
of preparing them for the Day of Declaration.
These leaders, who are undoubtedly disciples of the Masters,
will be working to promote the goals of the Spiritual Hierarchy.
During a November 9, 2001 television interview in Santa Barbara, California, Peterson mentioned that South African political leader Nelson Mandela is another world figure who is actively working with Maitreya. . . .
Peterson also writes that there are a number of interesting areas of common ground between Maitreya and the “Blessed Mother” Mary.
Therefore, what I am hearing in the messages from both
Maitreya and the Blessed Mother is that, if we are to place our
trust in God completely and become Self-realized souls, we must
abandon fear. No half way attempt is useful. One must be completely
free of fear to experience God, by whatever name we call Him.
Many interesting parallels exist between descriptions of Maitreya’s Day of Declaration and the messages from the Blessed Mother. Both tell us we can expect a major spiritual event that will shake the world. This event, according to the apparitions of the Blessed Mother, will change humanity. Both say it can be easy or difficult depending upon humanity itself. If we decide to change the way we live, we will enter a great and glorious age with relative ease. If we refuse to change our ways, the transition will be difficult and many will suffer.
Peterson continues to travel around the country and the world as a special advocate for Maitreya. He anticipates being employed as an ambassador for Maitreya after the World Teacher’s “Day of Declaration” when Maitreya finally appears and makes himself known to mankind.
- Warren B. Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ The New Gospel, pp. 26-29
I hope you
are seeing what is going on in this world as these demonic angels
of light are promoting this new gospel and there are many leaders
who are waving people down this path of distortion and destruction!
Keep in mind that over fifty years ago Alice Bailey was told by
her spirit guide that there would be forces of darkness that were
going to oppose this “new gospel” and we are those forces
of darkness, at lest in their minds!
Alice Bailey wrote:
The Forces of Darkness are powerful energies. . . . consequently block deliberately the inflow of that which is new and life-giving; they work to prevent the understanding of that which is of the New Age; they endeavor to preserve that which is familiar and old, to counteract the effects of the oncoming culture and civilization, to bring blindness to the peoples and to feed steadily the existing fires of hate, of separateness, of criticism and of cruelty.
- Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 75
As I close this morning, I realize that this is a lot of
information and you may be wondering how this all fits into the
church, believe me it does! We will look at what the church is
embracing next week but remember Paul’s admonition to us
as he wrote, “And do this, knowing the time, that now
it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is
nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the
day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as
in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and
lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
Romans 13:11-14. May we awaken out of our spiritual sleep and
stand against the evil that is coming into the church, stand against
the false doctrines that are coming into the church for the time
of the Lord’s return is getting close. And if that is true,
and it is, that means that the enemy will turn up the heat upon
believers in this world to move them off the course that God has
set. WAKE UP!