[In the last chapter we saw how Benjamin Crème spoke of Madame Blavatsky as his source of occult spiritual knowledge. It’s important to know about the origins of modern evil. In this chapter I shall be quoting from a novel I wrote some time ago, entitled “Caxton College”, a tale of a Theological College being taken over by New Age trends. The Main character, who tells the tale, is Dr Alan Dunstan, Head of Calvin House, and his wife Janice. In the portion quoted here, we have a discussion between them and Dr Edward Iliffe, Head of Zwingli House, and his wife Constance, (Ted and Connie). They are beginning to find how the College is being invaded, quietly and subtly. Dr Iliffe had been to the Barbican Bookshop in York, where he picked up a couple of paperbacks on New Age teaching.]
“The book tells me that this all started for the Western World last century through a Russian Woman by the name of Madame Blavatsky. Her maiden name was Helena Hahn. She was a big built woman of considerable strength of mind but strangely unethical behaviour. Her first marriage was hardly a success, and so she left her husband and travelled about, ending up in New York in 1873. There she adopted a life-style more like that of a man, smoking cigars and hash, and campaigning against sex, even though she’d married twice more, bigamously of course. But the main strength of this woman lay in her proven psychic abilities, which led her to travel widely in Europe, Egypt, and Tibet, where she learned about “Cosmic Masters”, spiritual beings who wanted to make themselves known via adepts such as herself. Then she met a man in New York by the name of Colonel H.S.Olcott, a journalist, and he was so taken with Blavatsky’s revelations that they decided to form a society for the study of such things, calling it “The Theosophical Society,” which of course is still in existence. Now there was nothing essentially new in what they were doing. It had been part of occult knowledge from time immemorial, ancient Babylon, ancient Egypt, Tibet, India, China, and so on. And in more recent times it had been a word used by the philosopher Jacob Boehme. But this was to set the stage for an explosion of interest throughout the world. The Society began in New York in 1875, and two years later she founded the official London-based journal of the Society, which she called “Lucifer.”
“My goodness,” said Connie, “that was blatant, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Well, you see she had no time for true Christianity at all.”
Ted opened his book to quote from it.
“Just listen to this. She said on one occasion, ‘We believe neither in vicarious atonement, nor in the possibility of the remission of the smallest sin by any god, not even by a personal Absolute or Infinite, if such a thing could have existed.’ Now I find it important to remember that statement, because some years later her disciple, who took over the leadership of the Society after Blavatsky’s death, said, ‘No man, in becoming a Theosophist, need cease to be a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu: he will but acquire a deeper insight into his own faith.’ Subtle, isn’t it?”
“What was the name of her successor?” I asked.
“Annie Besant, who lived from 1847 to 1933. She was an English revolutionary socialist who was converted to Theosophy. Like Blavatsky, she was a woman of unbounded energy, which in her case was focussed on the emancipation of women in society. She became the vice-president of a lodge of Co-Masonry, in which both sexes could take part, and in 1911 took part in a large suffragette demo in London, where she appeared dressed up in all the trappings of a 33rd degree Mason.
“However, that was the other string to her bow, and is of lesser importance to us. But her interest in Theosophy took her to India, where Blavatsky had set up the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, near Madras, and there was more and more talk about the “Himalayan Masters”, a kind of secret brotherhood of high ranking spirit beings who said they were in charge of the evolution of the planet. Olcott had a vision of one of them, oriental, long raven hair to the shoulders, piercing eyes, brown skin, agreeing with other visions received by people in quite diverse groups since then.
“What I’m driving at in all this is that the Theosophical Society became the “Doorway in the West” for age-old Eastern religion practised in Tibet, India and Burma, now presenting itself as Hinduism, and Buddhism.”
“I find this fascinating,” I said. “Is there more?”
“Plenty, but I’ll keep it short. I’ll have to omit much of the interesting detail. After Annie Besant, came yet another lady of energetic temperament, by the name of Alice Bailey, who went into Theosophy hook, line and sinker, becoming a real adept, and receiving voices from the “Cosmic Masters”, which she wrote down. Thousands of pages of such writings are known, and avidly read by all keen New Agers. They contain interesting prophecies and pronouncements. When I say ‘interesting’, I mean to those who are part of the movement. The book warns us not to read them, lest they have a bad effect on our minds.
“However, Bailey said that all these New Age teachings should be broadcast widely in the year 1975, exactly 100 years after the founding of the Theosophical Society in New York on September 13th of that year. And sure enough, it was that year when a variety of New Age weeds began to germinate and come into flower. Various groups had taken on boardBlavatsky’s teachings, amplified by Besant and Bailey, and made their own societies. One such today is run by a London taxi-driver (as he then was) by the name of George King. He is now the head of the Aetherius Society, and has been a channel for several Tibetan Masters, and one who calls himself Jesus, and claims to live on Venus!
“Now going back to Annie Besant, one of her sayings was, ‘Man is a fragment of divinity clothed in matter.’ This sums up most of the New Age teaching, which is basically Hindu in style, in other words, we are ourselves ‘corporately divine’. There is no outside God such as the One found in the Jewish, Moslem, and Christian religions. One’s life-time duty according to the New Agers is to worship SELF, and become aware of one’s own potential. It sounds very similar tothe ancient gnostic heresy, doesn’t it, you know, their battle cry of ‘know thyself’? However, there’s no other point of contact between the New Agers and the Gnostics as far as I can see because Theosophy is basically Hindu and Neoplatonic in its doctrines.
“Bailey had a Cosmic Master who called himself “The Tibetan”, and he was the source of much of her voluminous writing. Amongst other things, she made this important statement, ‘The only purpose of establishing a New World Order is to serve as a political structure for the New Age Christ.’
“Alice Bailey was the founder of the Lucifer Trust in New York. This was named after the journal Blavatsky founded in England. Although she is now dead, the Trust is still in operation, and now has a new name. It is called ‘The Lucis Trust’, presumably so as not to offend people in the ‘Christian’ lobby. One man who is very much to the fore in the Lucis Trust is BenjaminCreme, the man who placed those enormous advertisements in the leading papers of the world in 1982, saying “The Christ is Here”.
“Oh yes, I remember that. It caused quite a stir at the time, but as nothing came of it most people became disinterested. The Western World today is very much like the philosophers on Mars Hill in Paul’s day, always looking for ‘some new thing’ to toss around in conversation for the rest of the day, and then forget.”
“Ah yes, but the fact is, they are still trying to bring about conditions suitable for the appearance of this Christ-figure. It seems that certain conditions have to be met before he is able to manifest himself to the world, and try as they may, those conditions have never been fully met since 1982, even though Creme has repeatedly announced his ‘Day of Manifestation’ in the Press, and over Radio and TV networks.”
“Who is this so-called Christ?” I asked.
“They call him Maitreya, a Buddhist name, meaning ‘The Solar Logos’, who is said to be next to Lucifer in the spiritual hierarchy.”
“None other than the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, then?”
“Could be. It’s a bit early yet to make statements as definite as that, but it could be him. He is said to have been watching over the development of the planet, and has until recently been living in a cave in the Himalayas.”
“Where is he now? Does anyone know?” asked Connie.
“Creme called for a press conference in May 1982, when he said he would reveal the whereabouts of the Maitreya. It was held in Los Angeles on May 14th. It was relayed live to British TV at 6.50 p.m., and he said, “The country is England, that emerald isle; the town is London, and the Christ has been working in the Pakistani-Indian Community in South London.” He also said that the Maitreya would reveal himself by 21st June, the summer solstice. But when that day came, the only person to be ‘manifested’ was Prince William, born to Princess Diana at 9 p.m.! It’s been the same ever since.”
“So presumably he is still living in London, and by the sound of it he is a Tibetan?” said Janice.
“He could be. You know, I’ve also read that there’s another such being who lives just as quietly in the suburbs of Rome, waiting to ascend the throne of Peter and assume leadership of the Christian Church on earth. Neither of these individuals has yet been able to manifest himself. The probability is that they must do so at the same time. The presence of this second Cosmic Master was announced in 1982, a few months after the Maitreya. He calls himself “Jesus the Christ”, surprise, surprise!”
“The Beast and the False Prophet?” I suggested.
“Again, we must wait and see. I think it’s a bit early to make any assessment.”
“But where does the Peace Prayer fit into all this?” asked Connie. “I’ve almost lost the thread of that now.”
“Almost but not quite, dear. You see, these New Age pundits know what’s needed to bring about the most favourable conditions for the manifestation of their Masters. They’re looking for a massive following of their tenets, and the only way to do it is to get millions of people to pray, ormore correctly say their mantras, to produce occult energy as massive as a tidal wave in the psychic realm. This they’ve tried to do on special occasions, such as the day of the Great Planetary Commission, as it was called, on December 31st 1986, when it’s been estimated that over 50,000,000 people joined in a one-hour meditation and prayer for human unity, by saying the “Great Invocation.” But it wasn’t enough. By the way, the Lucis Trust put a full-page advertisement in the Readers Digest in October 1982, which included this Great Invocation.”
“Do you know what it said?” I asked.
“I know,” said Connie, with a slight smile on her face. We all looked at her, waiting for her next word.
“Perhaps you didn’t thumb through your service books yesterday, but this Invocation I found had been pasted inside the back cover. Presumably the Chaplain intends to use it.”
“Well I’m blowed!” said Ted.
And then Thomas arrived with our muffins on the tea trolley, and we were glad of a break. In point of fact nothing else transpired that evening which needs recording in this chapter. We spent the rest of the time mulling over what Ted had told us as a result of his reading.
So the New Agers had penetrated our College, and were actively obtaining mantra-support for their scheme to bring the antichrist into the world. And the Christian Church was so sleepy that it was able to obtain this support from the very people who ought to be opposing them most vigorously. The Devil had us by the throat, and we weren’t squealing. We weren’t even aware of it!
The “Peace Prayer” began to circulate in England in 1981. Its source is unknown, but was heavily promoted by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Leaflets were printed in readiness for the “United Nations Year of Peace” which began 24th October 1985. The prayer was shown on these leaflets, cleverly woven into what was called “The Prayer Mandala”. [The word “Mandala” comes from Hindu and Buddhist sources, where it speaks of a symmetrical diagram used to contain words of meditation.] The prayer has nothing “Christian” in it, but fools many believers because it sounds “nice”, and “Everyone wants peace, don’t they?” Here is the prayer –
Lead me from Death to Life
From Falsehood to Truth;
Lead me from Despair to Hope
From Fear to Trust;
Lead me from Hate to Love
From War to Peace;
Let peace fill our Heart
Our World, our Universe;
Peace, Peace, Peace.
Here now is the text of “The Great Invocation.”
THE GREAT INVOCATION
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to earth.
From the centre where the will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men –
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out.
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
I found this prayer in a local Anglican Church hall, on a huge poster. My wife and I objected to the Vicar, but got the usual rebuttal. We prepared our own (very much smaller) poster, and distributed it as widely as we could, but by and large we only received patronizing sneers and hostile comments. We recognized the climate of “Christian” opinion we were surrounded by, and wondered what these people would say about our Lord’s words – “Think not that I came to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother . . . a man’s foes shall be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34-37)
The New Age people want to bring about “Peace” without the assistance of the True God of the Universe. Their Peace Prayer doesn’t even mention God. People of all religions and none have been saying it, but to whom do they think they are praying? It is a little understood principle thatall prayer is heard. But by whom? If not God, then it must be Satan.
The absolutely exclusive claims of Jesus Christ, that He is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life”, and that “No man comes to the Father except by Me,” is totally offensive to all New Agers. John Randolph Price, a prominent New Ager, wrote a book called The Planetary Commission, in which he spoke about all people being viewed as a “Global Brain”, which is the brain of “God”, since “All is God and God is all.” But he went on to say that there are “cancer cells” in this global brain, which will need to be purged out. Guess who they are. Yes, that’s right, it’s those who believe in one God, Christians, Jews, and Moslems, but mainly fundamentalist Christians. Barbara Marx Hubbard, another up-front New Ager, said that there are massive and dedicated counter-forces trying to offset the benefits of the healing of the Universal Brain. “These are those who are sticking to a worn-out, divisive theology, which believes that it has the “only” truth,” a thinly veiled threat to Bible-believing Christians – the “cancer cells.”
Are we “Recognising the Hand of Judgement”? Why has all this evil risen up in the last century? Daniel was given the answer. The “Little Horn” of chapter 8 “cast down some of the host [of heaven] and the stars to the earth and trampled them underfoot.” (Verse 10). “It cast down truth to the ground, did it with effect and succeeded.” (Verse 12) But why was it able to have such power over all that is good? The answer is found in that same verse – the power was given him “by reason of transgressions.” Later, in 11:30, we learn that the Little Horn “has intelligence with those who forsake the holy covenant.” It has always been the same. Satan gleefully draws to himself all and any who begin life as true believers, and then renege on the truth. He loves unfrocked priests, dissenters, and the like. We’re not talking about backsliders, those who drop away through personal weakness. We are talking about those who knowingly, and willfully reject their former faith. These constitute the “apostasy”, to use a Biblical term which means “to stand away” from that which formerly they espoused.
If this is the reason for the tremendous forces of evil at work in today’s world, then we as Christians are corporately responsible, and once having realised and recognised the cause of the problem, should give ourselves to earnest prayer, to be those who “stand in the breach” with“the sword of the Lord”, and hold back the advancing tide of evil. As we view other cameo sketches of world events in this series, the same truths will be seen again and again. The whole world is like a chess board with two players, God and Satan. As Christians we know that God will win. The victory was won judicially at Calvary. But we do not yet see all things under His feet. At the moment we are seeing a very great offensive of Satanic darkness enshrouding the whole world. But as one was given to prophesy in recent years, “It is in the time of greatest darkness that the light will shine.” We must hold fast to our profession of faith unwavering, in the strength that God supplies to all who are faithful to Him.
