"We see, in many a land, the proudest dynasties and tyrannies still crushing, with their mountain weight, every free motion of the Consciences and hearts of men. We see, on the other hand, the truest heroism for the right and the greatest devotion to the Truth in hearts that God has touched. We have a work to do, as great as our forefathers and, perhaps, far greater. The enemies of Truth are more numerous and subtle than ever and the needs of the Church are greater than at any preceding time. If we are not debtors to the present, then men were never debtors to their age and their time. Brethren, we are debtors to the hour in which we live. Oh, that we might stamp it with Truth and that God might help us to impress upon its wings some proof that it has not flown by neglected and unheeded." -- C.H. Spurgeon . . . "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31, 32 . . . . .

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

How EASTERN RELIGION INVADED the WEST - Part 1

By James Fire

Where Are We Today?

In an examination of the current situation of the ‘Christian church’ (or might we more aptly refer to it as Christendom?), we see a pervasive mutation occurring.

What started in modernism in the mid 19th century, until the mid 20th century (modernism having to do with so-called higher criticism and skepticism regarding absolute inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; the doubting of anything supernatural, such as creation and miracles; the adoption of an allegorical hermeneutics, rather than a literal view of the Bible, etc.) which brought us the liberalization of most of the denominations and a post-modernistic view, led us to what’s been called “The New Age Movement (N.A.M.) that heavily influenced these aforementioned churches.


Lately, we see the ecclesiastical trend morphing what was Christian, into a pseudo-Christian amalgam of various elements, all under the inspiration of the Emergent Church Movement (E.C.M.). The E.M.C. has promoted even further the idea started in Modernism/Humanism, and then the N.A.M., namely that “truth is relative”. When absolute truth is denied, this opens the door that any claim to a truth is just as valid as any other, even if they oppose each other! This is essential in order for what’s known as the Hegelian Dialectic to take place. We will look at what this term means in a bit.

Consensus and corruption, amalgamation and abomination, syncretism and sinful seduction result from such methods and ideas as Hegelian thought and relative truth.

What this will bring us to is a unified world religion as stated prophetically in scripture:

John the Apostle reveals what he saw in prophetic vision while on the island of Patmos, approximately 96 A.D.:
REVELATION 17:3-5 
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
Biblically speaking, a harlot is representative of any false religious system. Quite often in the Old Testament, God declares that Israel has played the harlot in cavorting with the pagan religious practices which He strictly forbade (See HOSEA 3:3;4:15).

The Mother of Harlots would then be the very source that inspired all of her ‘children’ in their various beliefs, dogmas, rituals, etc. This is none other than Babylon, as John himself describes.

Just as the rebellion of mankind was codified into a religious system at the beginning of our human history, so it resumes at the end, representing a religion that, at its heart, is genuinely anti-Christ and unbiblical in its tenets and beliefs.

What Did Georg Hegel Do For Us?


There is something called the Hegelian Dialectic which we will have to examine before we proceed as this is quite relevant in the intention of this article.

What is the Hegelian Dialectic? (from the web site: www.crossroad.to/)
“Hegel maintains that the juxtaposition and violent interaction of binary oppositions will continue until a position is reached which is so perfectly balanced that no new antithesis can arise, because there are no extremes left to form a thesis. This bland-sounding paradise is what Hegel calls THE ABSOLUTE IDEA, and history is the process of human civilization working toward this end point, motivated by a spiritual force which Hegel calls the WORLD-SPIRIT or WORLD-MIND (Scripture is clear in regards to this world and the conduct of the believer in relation to it; see 1 COR 2:12; 1 JOHN 2:15). Because the ultimate cause of progress in Hegel's view of history is an abstract force, we call his philosophy a form of idealism (there are many philosophical ideas which merit this description).”

“When we understand what motivated Hegel, we can see his influence on all of our destinies. ... Hegelian conflicts steer every political arena on the planet, from the United Nations to the major American political parties, all the way down to local school boards and community councils. Dialogues and consensus-building are primary tools of the dialectic, and terror and intimidation are also acceptable formats for obtaining the goal. The ultimate Third Way agenda is world government.”
The way to world government will be produced by the resolving of opposing groups and their beliefs; this will be most ably accomplished by means of a unified world religion, as H.G. Wells himself has stated:

1928 -- The Open Conspiracy: Blue Prints for a World Revolution by H.G. Wells is published. A former Fabian Socialist, Wells writes:"The political world of the into a Open Conspiracy must weaken, efface, incorporate and supersede existing governments... The Open Conspiracy is the natural inheritor of socialist and communist enthusiasms; it may be in control of Moscow before it is in control of New York... The character of the Open Conspiracy will now be plainly displayed... It will be a world religion."

The Two Players: Thesis/anti-thesis

What are the players of this Hegelian tactic to unify the various religions of the world?

Two primary religions are in play for this dialectic: Christianity and Hinduism, and they are indeed opposites in many, many ways!

Christianity (we refer to biblical doctrine as being actual Christian belief) believes in a personal, transcendent Creator, whereas Hinduism believes in an impersonal, pantheistic, even monistic Creator/force.

Christianity teaches salvation by grace alone in Christ alone, and that by faith in the Word of God (thus sola scriptora and sola fide). Hinduism teaches that salvation is by the efforts of the devotee via reincarnation and the implementation of karma to ‘raise’ oneself to a higher plane of existence, ideally becoming one with the All, that is ‘Brahma’.

Even in the basic tenets of these two spiritual belief systems we can see a stark contrast, thus they are ideal for the thesis/anti-thesis conflict of the Hegelian dialectic (it's for this same reason that Islam was not used for this plan, as there are some significant similarities between this religion and Christianity, that would not suit the purposes of the Power Elite).

We see signs everywhere today that the thesis of Christianity, and the anti-thesis of Hinduism are slowly resolving into a synthesis:
Witness an exercise class in a gymnasium located at your local church, where the instructor is leading a group of fellow Christians into an exercise regime of yoga.

Witness a Bible study where a lay teacher is using certain phraseology during the teaching that jibes well with Hindu concepts.

Witness a prayer meeting, where a facilitator is encouraging fellow participants to engage in visualization, and ‘centering’ prayer, and Spiritual Formation dogma.
A mere half a century ago, such practices would have been impossible in the church, and any suggestion that such things were practical and useful supplements to Christian doctrine would have been laughed at.
Unfortunately, no one is laughing today.

Historic Origins of Hinduism

How did this all take place? When did Hinduism come to have such a subtle, but powerful influence here in the West, not only in society in general, but even in the church? Where did Hinduism itself come from and what are its basic beliefs?

Are you being influenced unknowingly by any such beliefs?

You might say that I’m being too critical, even negative by these observations and remarks; perhaps you would even suggest that I adopt a more Positive Mental Attitude. If you would, then your advice would be Hindu in origin, for that term is at its heart, a Hindu concept!

Let’s go into some of the history of Hinduism and understand the roots of its beliefs, and determine where its origins lie; then we’ll see if we find any correlation to what we see here in the West.

Hinduism is the oldest of all religious systems and one of the most complex. It has spawned a variety of secrets holding diverse beliefs, thus making Hinduism difficult to portray accurately without examining its various facets.

Hindus have a wide selection of beliefs and practices to choose from; they can legitimately be “pantheists, polytheists, monotheists, agnostics, even atheists.”

Hindu ‘triads’ (triplet groupings of gods) multiplied until there were millions of gods, all of them served by countless castes (originally four in number). Different sects worship different deities as follows: (note to reader: the Hindu concept of triads is not equitable to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity).

Hindu gods formed in groups of three’s are merely triplets of gods, forming alliances between themselves*. They are not identical to each other in nature, nor possess the same character, attributes and powers. Whereas in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are indeed, Three in One, and are entirely identical in nature, character, attributes and power, yet still present as three distinct Persons. For a very competent treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity, please read the written article: The Trinity: One God or Three? - Chuck Missler. Also a very thorough treatment of the Trinity may be found here. Compare the tri-une nature of God as portrayed in the scriptures to those deities worshipped in Hinduism.

*We see this same ‘groupings of gods’ in other religious systems, such as in ancient Egyptian and Babylonian and Sumerian culture, thus apparently all coming from a root source.


1) Vishnu – god of time and space, the Preserver.

2) Shiva – (Lord Siva) – god of song and healing, the Destroyer

3) Durga – the Divine Mother (goddess of motherhood) *note to reader: this goddess could parallel the Roman Catholic personage of the Holy Mother, Mary, mother of God, and co-redemptress and become a focal point by which Hindu’s and R. Catholics can find significant accord (there are other parallel beliefs and practices as well).

4) Brahman – the Eternal Trimurti or “Three in One” Creator; the ultimate reality, supreme essence of the universe.
*note to reader: another bridge that would prove useful in unifying these two different belief systems, as both ascribe this characteristic to Deity, the difference being that in Hinduism, Brahman is overseer of all the other gods, and merely one of the four primary deities, and among many countless millions of lesser deities.
All castes and their sects believe in these four primary deities.

Fundamental Beliefs Consist Of –

Submission to fate – man is part of Brahman, thus not outside but submitted to Brahman’s influences. This as opposed to what the Bible states, that we have our own volition or free will, and may decide to come to Jesus, or not, and receive the consequences of that decision.

There are many verses that point to the free-will of mankind, even the free will of those who are saved by grace, and may choose (or not) to take up their cross daily, etc. Here are a few: MATT 7:24;10:32; MATT 21:44; REV 22:17.

Caste Systems – these are determined by the ‘Laws of Manu’ (‘Manu’ being ‘the first man’ [or as we would know him, Adam]). The origin of this system was established when
Brahma supposedly created Manu (the first man). From Manu came four different kinds of people*:

From Manu’s head came Brahmins- the best and most holy of people; scholars, priests, gurus, etc. From Manu’s hands came Kshatriyas- rulers and warriors

From Manu’s thighs came- Vaisyas- craftsmen

From Manu’s feet came- The remainder of the people.

From these four primary castes, thousands of sub-castes developed over time. It’s an integral part of the social order in India today, and despite the fact that it’s been outlawed by its own government, its presence and influences still dictate society and its culture.

*Note to reader - the concept of ‘different kinds of people’ refers to their various levels of development; some are lower on the scale, others are higher. Here we see, in spiritual form, the basis for evolution. This concept is far older than the ideas proposed by Charles Darwin, but the parallels are obvious.

Scripture places all of us on an equal footing before the God of the whole Earth, we are all sinners, guilty before His Holy throne - 
ROM 3:23; 5:12. We may also find equality in Christ when once we become a member of His body: MATT 23:8; GAL 2:16; 3:28; EPH 2:8-9; TITUS 3:5.

As K.P. Yohannan (founder and director of Gospel For Asia) has stated: “There are two kinds of religion in the world today – human achievement and Divine accomplishment. The former states “you must DO in order to be righteous; the latter states in regards to our righteousness, “It is DONE.”

Reincarnation – defined as a chain of rebirth, in which each soul, through virtuous living, can rise to a higher state. There is an interview with Dave Hunt about reincarnation and how it differs from resurrection. Can Reincarnation Be Christianized?

Nirvana – final stage reached upon emancipation of the soul from the chains of rebirth. In the concept of Nirvana the soul of the individual is merged with the “All”, and loses its identity. In scripture, the person who is saved enters into heaven, and is fully sanctified and conformed entirely to the Person of Christ (see 
1 JOHN 3:2)

However we in no way lose our identity, or have our personality demolished or merged into a greater whole.

Yoga – the disciplines which enable the individual to control the body, emotions, and ‘Dharma’ – that is, the Law of Moral Order, which must be found and followed to achieve nirvana.
It’s the Hindu path of “union with the divine”. Any sort of exercise (physical, mental, or spiritual) which promotes union with Brahma (interesting to note that guru’s will state that hatha-yoga, the physical exercises we equate with mere ‘healthy exercise’ is an essential part of the mystical aspects of yoga).
Here the issue of yoga is also addressed by Dave Hunt - Can Yoga Be Christianized?


Pay close attention to what Yoga is here defined as: it includes not only the body, but the emotions and the ‘dharma’ which involves the Law of Moral Order, a profoundly spiritual concept.

Scripture plays a vital importance among Hindus just as much as they do among Christians; yet one is hard pressed to find any parallelisms between the two texts.

HINDU SCRIPTURES

These have been written over a period of two thousand years (1400 B.C. – 500 A.D.).

They comprise the full spectrum of Hindu beliefs through all phases of its development. There are two classes of scripture: Sruti and Smriti.

Sruti, meaning “that which is heard” refers to the eternal truths of religion which the ‘rishis’ (or seers) saw or heard. They are independent of any god or man to whom they are communicated.
They are the primary, final authority of religious truth. 
The Sruti are mirrors by which eternal truth is reflected and then recorded by their disciples as “the Vedas”.
It’s essential that the Sruti, as a calm, unmoving pond can act as a mirror, achieve a calm and unmoving state of blissful mind, so that they might rightly reflect the eternal truth.

Smriti meaning “that which is remembered”, possesses a secondary authority derived from the Sruti whose principles they seek to expand. They collectively represent all sacred texts, excluding the Vedas.

The Vedas – literally “wisdom or knowledge” – the oldest of Hindu texts. Originally transmitted orally, later preserved in written form. It contains hymns, prayers, ritual texts composed over a one thousand year time frame.

Its divided into four Samhita’s (wisdom books):

Rig-Veda – the basis of vedic Hinduism
Sama-Veda – borrows mantras from the Rig-Veda; these hymns are chanted.
Yajur-Veda – a collection of mantras borrowed from the Rig-Veda and applied to specific ritual situations carried out by the executive priests and his assistants.
Athara-Veda – magic spells, and incantations performed by the priests.

Each of these books consists of three parts: mantras, brahmanas, and Upanishads.

Mantras – hymns of praise to the gods (mantra’s are used routinely in yoga and other forms of Hindu meditation; the student is misled and told they are meaningless words used as an aid to clear the mind)

Brahamanas – a guide for practicing ritual rites.

Upanishads – the most important of these: teachings on religious truth and doctrines. These were composed around 800-600 B.C., of those, 108 remain intact and relate to secret mystical teachings relating to man, the universe, the external Brahman- the basis of all reality, and the atman (self, soul). Influenced by Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, thus similarities can be noted between the Upanishads and the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism.

Various Hindu Terms –

Moksha (also- mukti) – this is the liberation of the soul from the wheel of karma. The goal of the Hindu is to be free of samsara (the binding life cycle) and karma, with its endless cycles of reincarnation. When one is liberated, he enters into a state of fullness/completion. Moksha can be achieved by any of three paths:

1) Knowledge or ‘jnana
2) Devotion or ‘bhakti
3) Ritual works or ‘karma

Once a person has achieved Moksha, that person is referred to as “jivanmukta

Atman – (self, soul) that part of each living thing that is eternal. Taittiriya Upanishad defines it as “that from which speech along with mind, turns away- unable to comprehend it.

Maya – a difficult concept: a potentially illusory event, experience and or perception that in some sense is ‘real’ and may contain important wisdom and or knowledge to be acquired. Consider the experience of a dream: are dreams real? Yes and no; they are real in the sense that we have them, and experience them in the unconscious mind during sleep, but they have no objective reality that exists in their own right.

This is akin to the concept of ‘maya’.

Samsara – the transmigration or rebirth of the soul. Karma dictates the direction of samsara, either to elevation or humiliation. (note to reader: An interesting point of fact that in the West, when advocates of reincarnation make claims of former lives, they relate to memories of being kings, great warriors, other esteemed personages that are in most respects far more elevated than who and what they are in their current incarnation; thus according to the belief of samsara, they have apparently been debased and humiliated due to past evils and misdeeds; not exactly an illustrious heritage!)

Bhagavad Gita – the work of writings that has devoted special attention to salvation via bhakti-marga, that is, devotion, to deity, family, masters, etc. The book exemplifies salvation characterized by commitment and action (karma). It’s also known as “The Song of the Lord” (Krishna).

Brahma – the creator god, first of the Hindu triads, consisting of Brahma, Shiva and Vishna.

Krishna – The 8th (and 9th) incarnation of Vishnu, one of the most widely worshipped deities. Krishanaites believe Krishna is the supreme deity.

From: The Handbook of World Religions - published by Thomas Nelson 1983; excerpted from pp. 283-295

Yoga and Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) have figured predominantly in shaping and re-shaping the spiritual views of people in the West, and certainly no less here in America. This author himself spent some years, prior to conversion, dabbling in various occult practices, and even in T.M.
Other ideas and concepts that are frequently acknowledged here in the West are Hindu in origin.


Even the likes of Willy Nelson have sung, “Just A Lil Old Fashioned Karma Comin’ Round” which we all recognize.

Infiltration by various yogis from the East were replete in the early 60s and 70s with the likes of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought Kundalini Yogi and T.M. to our shores, dressing them up in scientific and, or more comfortable Western-style ‘clothes’

Rajneesh is one of the most powerful cult leaders and preeminent Eastern guru of the 1980’s.

After the death of his grandfather who raised him, he recovered from the despair and trauma, and he felt himself strangely attracted to death, following funerals the way other children would follow circuses.

Rajneesh sought to lead humanity into spiritual regeneration, which is necessary in order to survive “the holocaust (which he predicts) is coming.”

In 1978 Rajneesh became popular among Hollywood celebrities and prominent apostles of the Human Potential Movement (H.P.M.). Tantric yoga and psycho-spiritual therapies and techniques made him famous.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s his acclaim spread within the New Age movement in America, Great Britain and Germany; in fact nearly every free-world industrialized nation.
By 1984 he acquired over 300,000 followers, average age of 34.

The fruit of his spiritual services to mankind resulted in decadent luxury for himself, the incorporation of his Rajneesh Foundation International, a multi-million dollar business; he owns his own fleet of Rolls Royces.
He endorses bizarre sexual practices and spiritual experiences and sees the family unit as “anathema” and children as “trash”; hedonism is esteemed above all.

His followers in hundreds of Ashrams (cheap housing units established as communes) dwell in an environment replete with homicides, rapes, mysterious disappearances of members, threats, abandoned Ashram children left to wander and begging in the streets.

In 1981 following scandals, tax evasion, insurance fraud and a staged “assassination attempt” by his own followers, Rajneesh left Poona, India with seventeen of his closest disciples and being issued a visa by the U.S. Consolate in Bombay (It would seem our government had a vested interest in getting him over here), secretly flew to N.Y.C.

Efforts in America to create a “sacred city fit for the Master Himself” were soon underway; July 10th 1981 – Montclair, N.J. – The Big Muddy Ranch purchased 6 million dollars (1.5 of that in cash) from funds of the Chidvilas Rajneesh Meditation Center of land amounting to 100 sq. miles in Madras, Oregon, and leased 14,889 acres from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Rajneeshpuram was the name of the enlightened city and officially declared as a city and still stands today. For its 2,000 member commune, 12 hr. work days, seven days a week with only basic needs met, Rajneesh lived in decadence and luxury.

Of the spiritual development of mankind, Rajneesh states: “A revolution in human consciousness is no more a luxury, it has become an absolute need as there are only two alternatives: suicide or a quantum leap in consciousness which Nietzsche called ‘Superman’ . . .

Those who survive will be ‘Rajneeshees’ and the remaining will be mere monkeys (humans failing to make the needed quantum leap and don’t evolve to ‘Superman’ status) [these] will commit suicide. In fact, [those] remaining don’t matter.”

Rajneesh has also stated: “You can be a Christ, why be a Christian?” 9-2-1980

Let me be your death and resurrection.” From Discourses on the Sufi Way, quoted in the Victor Valley Daily Press 9-18-81.

As to the compatibility (or extreme lack thereof) between Hinduism and Christianity, one particular disciple of Rajneesh was a Eckart Flother, who was the only person known, to date, after his conversion to Christ, confronted Rajneesh. His own words are, to say the least, compelling:

In July, right as I was getting more deeply involved with the ashram, I had a very extraordinary experience. On one of those hot, humid Indian nights filled with mosquitoes. I was sitting in my hotel room and reading Rabi Maharaj’s book, Death of a Guru. Suddenly I saw a brilliantly shining being standing in the Hotel room, and He said to me with a mighty voice, 'I want you to be My disciple.' I immediately understood that Jesus had called me, yet I didn’t know what to do with it.

I went to Rajneesh and told him what happened to me. As I was talking to him about this experience, I could feel a kind of very warm energy or light radiating from me and I saw that Rajneesh was very irritated and even startled when he looked at me. He was unable to speak. At that moment I could see that he was not a master like Jesus Christ, as he claims. It was at this time I decided to become a disciple of Jesus.”

It’s quite essential that as Christians we make the distinction between what the Word of God states, and what Hinduism teaches. There can’t be any compromise or middle ground between these two extremes (Hegel’s desire would be just that: that both belief systems would compromise and “meet in the middle” as it were, forming a bizarre ‘Christian-Hindu concept;’ Chrindu? Hinstian?). 2 COR 6:14-16 defines the necessary restrictions for all believers to remain pure in doctrine, and allow no compromises, or vain philosophies for that matter (COL 2:8).

Lest any think we are overreacting about any supposed infiltration or compromise of Biblical beliefs in favor of blending Eastern religion into Christian faith, we submit this timely article:

Draper, The Denver Post, 8/9/09

So we close this segment of this article in the hope that any who are involved in, or even teaching yoga, or other Eastern religious practices would re-evaluate these things in the light of God’s Word and choose to walk solely in the Light of God’s Truth. We will continue this article in Part Two of “How Eastern Religion Invaded the West”

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