New Age Cults and Religions

by Texe Marrs

  In Egypt Jesus goes into the temple at Heliopolis and is received as a pupil. Eventually, he is initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries after successfully completing his seventh initiation. It is through this process of initiation that Jesus earns his title, “The Christ.”

  And More New Age Bibles...

  Listed below are only a few of the many bibles, near-bibles and scriptures being promoted by New Age cults and religions:

  Essence of Life: The Book of Answers

  Dianetics

  The Seth Material

  The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ

  The Lost Teachings of Jesus

  The Spiritual Teachings For Children (series)

  The Book of Mormon

  The Starseed Transmissions

  God Calling

  The Jesus Letters

  Happy Birthday Planet Earth

  New Age Teachings for an Awakening Humanity

  The Urantia Book

  Oahspe

  A Course in Miracles

  The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch

  A Spiritual Sex Manual

  The Portable World Bible

  The Rays and the Initiations

  The Secret Doctrine

  Isis Unveiled

  The Dawn Horse Testament

  The Satanic Bible

  Chapter 7: What is a Cult?

  Say the word “cult” and a number of images are conjured up in people’s minds. Usually pictures come to mind of destitute and hapless individuals with blank eyes and mindless stares. We envision the cult follower as flexible as rubber to the will of a guru; he or she is seen as a person living in a make-believe world. A member of a cult is often thought to be a weak sponge of a person who will carry out any deed, no matter how dastardly or unethical, up to and including murder, if called upon by the guru or prophet who promises him some form of eternal bliss.

  Actually, while in extreme cases this may be an accurate description of cults and their members, the term “cult” has a broader and more encompassing meaning. In Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, the word cult is defined as “a system of religious beliefs and rituals; also: its body of adherents.”

  A cult is a group whose membership is intensely devoted to a particular goal or leader and whose unusual lifestyle or peculiar attitudes and behaviors separate its members from society as a whole. If a small cult develops and grows in authority and numbers over time, it may mature into a sect or an actual religion, complete with such trappings as a cadre of trained priests or pastors, formalized ritual worship, sacraments, holy days, and so on.

  It is true that many New Age cults and religions are shrouded in secrecy. The inner teachings of the group are kept from the majority and initiates must proceed through a number of steps or degrees of initiations in order to become illumined, wise, or divine. But not all New Age groups are cloaked in secrecy. Many are open to the public, and though initially they may present themselves as possessing a body of occultic, or hidden beliefs, their membership is readily provided a set of written scriptures, books, tapes, or other tangible resources which they can use to immerse themselves more deeply into the activities of the group.

  So what exactly is a New Age “cult or religion?” Recently, Dr. William BeVier of the Religion Analysis Service, in an issue of The Discerner, provided a very succinct but accurate definition of a cult. He wrote: “I define a cult as a group or movement, which claims some affinity with Christianity, that holds a non-biblical view of either the person of Christ or the work of Christ, or both.” Dr. BeVier’s unfettered, direct definition is a good one.

  We can also add a few more distinctions. Throughout this book, my major emphasis will be to unmask New Age cults, religions, and organizations which, while they may not appear to be a present danger to the life and health of individuals, nevertheless are unchristian or anti-Christian in one respect or another. Therefore, like Dr. BeVier, I do not necessarily define a cult or a religion the same way that a non-Christian would. In the framework of this book, “A cult is a body or organized group of activists or believers who have involved themselves in a spiritual or social movement in opposition to the clear and direct Word of God.”

  Essentials of the Faith as a Measuring Stick

  The Bible gives us a small number of essentials of the faith. Organized spiritual groups which depart from these essentials can properly be classified as cultic. Now, I do not refer to the nonessentials of the faith, and of course there are some within Christianity—including some in major denominations and churches—who have in the past over-emphasized the nonessentials. However, this book concerns itself only with defending and explaining the essentials of the faith. Therefore, throughout the book, my goal is to shine a spotlight on groups which are detrimental to the Great Commission of Christ and whose outlook, worldview, teachings, or acts constitute either a direct or an indirect assault on traditional, true biblical Christianity. The cults and religions described herein stand in opposition to Christianity even though some most vehemently deny it.

  The essentials of the faith which enable us to separate the New Age group from the Christian include an absolute belief that there is in fact a personal and loving God who is the Creator of all things. Another essential is that Jesus Christ is wholly God and came in the flesh as God. This essential of the faith includes the well-established doctrine in Scripture that Jesus is and was the only Christ and Messiah, that He was a man of flesh and yet undeniably truly God.

  Another essential of the faith which separates biblical Christianity from the New Age sects and groups is the clear understanding from the Bible that man is not an evolving god, that he is and will always remain subservient to the great God of the universe. Moreover, another essential of the Christian faith given little credence in New Age circles is the Christian’s undeniable practice of praying to and calling on Jesus Christ alone as the mediator between man and God. The true Christian does not speak with the spirits or even with the departed saints in heaven. But instead, he knows —that he has a mediator and intercessor in heavenly places who hears his petitions and his prayers and knows the desires of his heart. That intercessor is Christ.

  The essential Christian belief that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and literal Word of God, given to man through God and undefiled by nature of its divine authorship is another important feature of true Christianity which separates its practice from those of the New Age cults and religions. Most New Age groups profess that the Bible is either inadequate, flawed, distorted, or otherwise limited, or they claim that it is one of only a number of Holy Scriptures and inspired texts. This view is diametrically opposed to that of the true Christian.

  Thus, in this book, the groups which we discuss have the marks of a cult not necessarily because their leader is a cruel dictator, or because the group is guilty of crimes as defined in secular legal definitions, or even because a group may be overtly satanic or occultic. There are a number of types of New Age cults and religions. Some groups are more destructive than others. What distinguishes a cult from a Christian denomination, sect, or religious group is simply its variance from the essentials of the Christian faith.

  The apostle Paul in Galatians 1:6-9 states that if anyone, even an angel from heaven, proclaims any other gospel than the one proclaimed in the Holy Bible and set forth clearly by the Apostles, that person is accursed. Moreover, in II Corinthians 11:4 we find that there is another gospel and another Jesus. Then, in Romans 16:17-18 we see that even if a person claims to be Christian yet teaches false doctrines contrary to that stated in the whole gospel of Christ, that person is not of God but is simply following the lust of the flesh and the will of the evil one

  True Christianity Defined

  True Christianity is defined as a belief in the Gospel, a Gospel that Paul set forth in I Corinthians 15:1-4. This Gospel declares the majesty of Jesus Christ and speaks of His sacrifice for our sins. It relates the glorious news of His resurrection and subsequent appearances on eart
h and assures us of His Lordship and His faithfulness to all those who place their faith in the finished, completed work of Christ. The basis of Christian salvation is a profound belief and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The result of salvation is new life, inner peace and an intense desire to serve God.

  New Age cults and religions are at variance with Christianity primarily because of their unscriptural teachings about the finished work of Christ and the person of Christ as compared with Scripture. Regardless of the other traits, characteristics, or marks of the specific cult or religion—and even though some of their works may be good—by these fruits we may know them. As Peter stated in Acts 4:12, only in Jesus Christ alone can man find hope: “Neither is there salvation in any other (name); for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

  How do we discern whether a particular group is a cult or religion in opposition to Christianity? There is only one rule for this kind of accurate discernment. Each of us must, as did the Bereans, go directly to the Scriptures, studying God’s Word to show ourselves approved workmen who need not be ashamed, able to rightly divide the Word of Truth (II Timothy 2:15). Without the Scriptures as our measuring stick, we are lost, hopeless, and without a compass, for as we read in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

  Types of New Age Cults and Religions

  There are basically nine types of New Age cults and religions. These nine types are listed below along with a brief description.

  1. Eastern Mystical. Cults and sects in this category fall along the traditional lines of such major Eastern religions as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Such groups emphasize the oriental and Eastern religious concepts. While Islam, the Moslem faith, cannot properly be categorized as New Age because of its exclusive belief in a personal God, there is a type of mystical Moslem sect called the Sufis which fits into the Eastern Mystical religious category.

  Members of Eastern Mystical cults and groups focus on such techniques as meditation, chanting, and the use of rosaries and mandalas. Invariably they advocate either holism (all is God) or polytheism, a belief in multiple gods, with the accompanying belief that all of these gods are integral parts of the whole fabric of reality.

  2. Mystery Teachings. This type of cult group loves to cloak and shroud its esoteric body of beliefs within the framework of some ancient mystery teaching. Some call it the Perennial Philosophy, the Ancient Wisdom, or Divine Wisdom. Whatever terminology is used, cult leaders focus the group’s attention on the gods, goddesses, and mythological fables and stories of ancient Greece, Babylon, Rome, Egypt, and the Orient. There is also an emphasis on the concept of archetypes—the envisioning and molding of gods and goddesses through man’s own creative, imaginative faculties.

  A further emphasis is placed on astrological signs, with mythological deities usually connected with the signs of the zodiac. The New Age groups involved in Mystery Teachings commonly instruct new recruits that they must remain chelas, or students, until they are progressively initiated into deeper levels of Gnosis, or knowledge of the mysteries. The promise of the unfolding of the mysteries is a seductive lure used to draw in curious seekers.

  3. Deceptive “Christian”. A number of groups come cleverly cloaked as “Christian.” Such cults may be either “liberal” or “conservative” in outlook. Those that are of a “conservative” nature are not truly conservative at all, they are simply stereotyped as such by the media. Thus, such groups only appear to be conservative. They often are led by strong, dictatorial-type leaders adept at keeping members obedient and submissive. The Bible is often twisted in one way or another and minor passages are over-emphasized and fashioned into major doctrines in order to keep members in bondage. Eventually, since power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the leader of a warped Christian cult or religious sect may go too far and seriously endanger and harm the physical and mental health of cult members.

  A classic example of extremism in this regard was the mass suicide and murder of hundreds of people who traveled to Guyana, South America with cult leader Jim Jones of the People’s Temple. New Age groups often attempt to smear traditional Christianity by claiming that such men as Jim Jones and even Adolf Hitler were “Christians.” The truth is far different. Jim Jones most definitely could be classified as a New Ager since he taught a warped view of the person and deity of Jesus Christ and twisted scripture to suit his own unethical acts and desires. In regards to Adolf Hitler, even a cursory look at history reveals to us that Hitler, raised as a Catholic, began to take up the occultic magical black arts and finally joined the Thule Society, a patently occultic cult group whose teachings can be traced back to 19th century Theosophy.

  The “liberal” Deceptive Christian group or church is equally as dangerous spiritually as the conservative cult. Perhaps more so, for the liberal leader or pastor puts on a front, a veneer of Christianity, while at the same time often denying every essential of the faith. Oftentimes, the leader will vigorously embrace New Age doctrines and practices while refraining from the term “New Age” itself. Usually, such leaders keep their flocks captive through flattery, or they may encourage political and social activism in neglect of the scriptures in order to keep their flock motivated toward reforming the world system. The members of such groups are often shocked for their church or organization to be labeled “New Age;” but, again, by their fruits ye shall know them.

  4. Occultic. Occultic groups range from those who advocate and practice the black magic arts to those who profess the value of occultic astrology and esoteric occultism, finally to the more bizarre and aberrant groups involved in devil worship and Satanism. Most New Age cults and groups are occultic in nature. But a number, such as the Lucis Trust and the Church of Satan, are overtly so. Those groups which proclaim as their purpose the “illumination” of humanity and lead their disciples and followers into a study of ancient occultic philosophies, as well as those which practice ceremonial rituals of a black or Satanic nature, most definitely can be categorized as occultic.

  Some groups who practice magic attempt to deny the dark nature of these practices, contending that theirs is “white magic” and that only “black magic” is evil. In reality, there is little or no distinction between black and white magic, as such practitioners as Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, and Dr. Michael Aquino of the satanic Temple of Set, have frequently attested. Certainly the Bible makes no distinction.

  5. Earth and Nature. These cultic groups and religious sects and factions honor and revere Mother Earth and all types of nature. Included in this category are the various witchcraft, goddess, and pagan groups. The earth religion is quite ancient and has its roots in primitive Babylon and Egypt. A number of Native American Indian religious groups practice earth and nature rituals. The essential doctrine taught by these groups is the reality of pantheism, that man is simply part of nature and that nature is itself divine. Commonly, such groups worship an energy force which is believed to permeate the universe. However, witches also quite often personify their deities, being known to call on the horned god Pan, for example, who was known to the Greeks as the god of the forest. Many witches also believe in Diana, the huntress, likewise a nature deity.

  Goddess worshippers harken to the pagan goddesses of olden times; they believe that the goddesses connect modern-day worshippers to the earth and provide a means of empowerment for the believer. Also in this category we can place the various pagan groups including those who worship the Norse gods and other mythological figures.

  6. Human Potential. These groups and organizations often disguise the New Age content of their programs and messages. For example, the Pacific Institute, founded by Lou Tice, once offered a seminar course to businesses, corporations, and governmental agencies which was called “New Age Thinking.” But in the mid-80s, as it became increasingly clear that the New Age involved religious and spiritual dimensions and doctrinal
elements hostile to traditional Christianity and even bizarre in relation to the commonly shared beliefs of Americans, the Pacific Institute dropped the term “New Age” from its course description. The course was repackaged as a “Creative Thinking” seminar.

  Human potential groups are epitomized by the slogan “Be all that you can be.” They offer self-improvement, increased creativity, success in the marketplace, etc. Generally, they emphasize positive thinking and positive affirmation techniques and attitudes. Self-love is a cardinal teaching of such groups, and pop-psychology is their greatest tool.

  Occasionally, human potential groups give away their ulterior motives by presenting their materials and teachings in a spiritual framework; for example, a human potential group leader may tell members of a business seminar that they are “destined for divinity” or that their human potential is so unlimited that by human endeavor, raw will power, or by practicing the techniques offered by the group, the individual can develop latent god-like powers and even command miracles and supernatural happenings to occur. In other words, many human potential groups, even those which start -off related more to psychology and self-improvement than to religion, eventually concentrate the mental energies of their audiences into a spiritual or religious channel.

  7. Prosperity and Health. This type of group appears to be non-doctrinal and devoid of occultic and mystical aspects; yet, such aspects are often veiled or hidden beneath the glitter and glamour of the cult group’s teachings and the flamboyance of its leader. Like the human potential groups, cult leaders of the Prosperity and Health variety are big on positive thinking and narcissism. They promise that through the use of mind dynamics and by changing one’s inner attitudes and thoughts, the individual can enjoy unparalleled prosperity and be guaranteed of excellent health and long life. Healing miracles are often emphasized; Happiness and riches are seen as easily attainable and this is the lure which draws in new recruits. Sometimes, elaborate systems of thought-control are offered. For example, what the New Age calls “self-talk” has been repackaged and made to appear more pseudoscientific by calling it “neurolinguistic programming.”