These
words are not common nor ordinary language.
They
are usually the "Sanskrit" words of the Hindu Scriptures:
Upanishads, Rig Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. Sanskrit is
only used by Brahmin priests in their ceremonies and the
worship of their deities. This may be valid for them of
course, but how valid is it for a Christian? Sadly there are
a frightening number of Catholics caught up in these many
forms of New Age practices. A black & white version of
the picture above for example, was used to advertise a "De
Mello Weekend" in a Catholic parish. It depicts Jesus in the
yoga lotus position, seated on a multi-hooded Cobra: the
goddess Kundilini. Not only is this a sacrilege, but it is
also an offense to the Hindus who worship these snakes.
Here are some
of the most common words and their
meanings.
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The most influential
infiltration into Catholic spirituality apart from paganism
and the syncretism with Hinduism, comes through
Buddhism.
|
It
seems somewhat ironic that whilst Hinduism and
Christianity are theist [albeit
diametrically opposed], Buddhism [an
offshoot of Hinduism] on the other hand is
atheist and claims no god other than a state of
Buddha consciousness. Never-the-less, in spite of
calling itself a philosophy, it has many deities
which are consulted and communed with through their
meditations and many acts of worship. The Dalai
Lamas are discerned and chosen through using the
horoscope [a practice condemned by God] and
believed to be an incarnation of the Buddha
[a concept diametrically opposite to the
Resurrection]. A discerning look at the
differences will alarm you when you consider that
Christians are asking these religions that do not
know Christ to teach them how to pray to him. (2
Corinthians 7: 14-16)
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[a]
Mantra [Magical Incantation].
[Sanskrit lit;]
A
sound symbol of one or more syllables often used to induce a
mystical state. It must be passed on by the living voice of
a guru and cannot be learned any other way. The user need
not understand the meaning of the mantra; the virtue is in
the repetition of the sound. It is said to embody a spirit
or deity and, the repetition of the mantra calls this being
to the one repeating it. Thus the mantra both invites a
particular being to enter the one using it and also creates
a passive state in the meditator to facilitate this fusion
of beings. [Source: "Death of a Guru" by Rabindranath
Maharaj].
The meaning of
the word Mantra according to John Main, Dom Freeman
et al - World Christian Community
Meditation.
"The mantra is simply a means of turning our attention
beyond ourselves, a method of drawing us away from our own
thoughts and concerns. The real work of meditation is to
attain harmony of body, mind and spirit. This is the aim
given us by the psalmist; be still and know that I am God.
In meditation we turn the search light of consciousness off
ourselves."
Not
quite the same is it! The
WCCM have used a clever semantic to give a new meaning to a
specific Sanskrit word to justify their syncretism with
Hinduism and Buddhism in particular. In addition, "Be still
and know that I am God" refers to abiding in The Word
(The True Vine) and The Word abiding in us, not a
vain repetition of a single mantric word like Jesus or
Maranatha, but the whole Word of God in Holy Scripture; that
is the true meaning of peace and harmony. (John 15: 1...)
However, we will take a closer look at the WCCM later in
this article.
The influence
of these people have confused young Christian Brothers as
well as many that teach in Catholic
schools.
In August 2003 while speaking to a young Christian
Brother in Perth WA regarding their discernment process for
vocations, the subject of Enneagram, Yoga and Mantras came
up. During what was a difficult but friendly
conversation, he proceeded to explain that the word Mantra
in the way they were using it didn't mean the same thing as
the Sanskrit. To him it was just a "prayer word" and said
that the Rosary was, by that definition, a mantra. He
continued to justify this by saying that many words had lost
their meanings today and so I cannot be so literal in this
regard. After a lengthy discussion he finally listened and I
was able to make my point although he was not easily
convinced.
Not
only is the practice of Yoga used merely as a Christianized
technique and not as it is in the East [although it
remains Yoga by any other name], but also the
accompanying mantra doesn't mean what it meant either. I
explained that even though he might mean something else by
the use of the word, when one of his students accepted it
and then saw it expressed in its Hindu, Buddhist or New Age
context, it would be natural to think of it as the same
meaning. It would then be easy to conclude that they are all
the same and so it is OK to accept these religions into
their Catholic faith.
All words mean what they mean and that is why we have
dictionaries. In this case, the Sanskrit meaning of the
word means exactly what that language says it means. We
cannot take a word and add another meaning to it and expect
it to be understood without confusion. The reality is, that
is exactly what people are doing.
After
sharing my journey from New Age, rock music and the
drug scene when I practiced many of these things
prior to my conversion, our meeting concluded with
a sense of new friendship. Two days later I
received a card thanking me for what I had said and
encouraging me to continue. "Through tough
experiences you know the pitfalls and you need to
name them. Rightly so!", he said. With a young man
of this caliber in the Church there's hope yet.
Articles from Newsweek August 4/03 on TM,
Yoga, Mantra and other Hindu and Buddhist
disciplines were distributed at a parish prayer
retreat held at the Benedictine Abbey, New Norcia
WA for Acolytes and other lay ministers led by a
woman that presents Walking the Labyrinth for the
Catholic Maranatha Institute in Perth. Clearly
presented as acceptable for Catholic ministers, the
whole religious practice is referred to in Newsweek
as "The science of Yoga." Of course, if we accept
that lie it will be easy to adopt another religion
as merely a neutral science and therefore harmless.
The idea of science to our Western mind is more
acceptable than the intuitive Eastern mindset. You
can call it a science if you will, but it is still
the same religious spiritual practice of Hinduism,
New Age and Buddhism.
In order for eastern religious thought and
practice to become acceptable to westerners, they
have re-marketed and repackaged it as a science. It
is boasted by those that have done this, that Yoga,
because it is a neutral science, transcends all
religions and aids all forms of prayer and
therefore it is superior; they even refer to it as
Christian Meditation.
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The Gita tells us that all roads lead to Krishna. To achieve
Krishna Consciousness one must perpetually repeat the
mantra, and Yoga is the fundamental discipline for this as
it is with all Hindu and Buddhist meditations. It seems that
if we accept Yoga as a science and let it transcend all
other forms of prayer, then no doubt, it will indeed lead us
to Krishna.
Included in the material handed out at this parish prayer
retreat was the use of the great occult magical mantra - OM.
I wonder what they meant this to mean if it didn't mean what
it really meant in the Sanskrit meaning of the word.
About OM
[Aum] - The great Hindu/Buddhist
Mantra.
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Dubois
stated that the Brahmins of his time [approximately
190 years ago] tried to keep the real meaning of
this sacred word a profound secret. In fact, many of them
did not even understand it themselves. He said that Om is
"the symbolic name of the Supreme Being, one and
indivisible." [1, 143]. It is also said that
"As long as there has been a Hindu Faith, the power of sound
has been recognized in the sacred Word. In that lies all
potencies, for the sacred word expresses the one and latent
Being, every power of generation, of
preservation and of destruction".
Om is the most solemn of the most powerful class of
mantras [magic words] and magical utterances
called bijakshara. Every true bijakshara mantra ends with a
nasal sound, actually going over in a kind of "vibration".
The bijakshara are used to worship the deities, like Shiva,
Ganesh, Lakshmi etc. The brief Mandukya Upanishad is
entirely devoted to the mystic syllable Om. "It is
compounded of three sounds, a, u, m, representing the
three Vedas [Rig [Veda], Yagur
[Veda], Sama [Veda], they are
the three words, heaven, atmosphere and
earth, which are the three deities, Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva.
Om Embraces all the secrets of the universe, which
are, as it were, gathered to a point within it, it is used
for invocations, affirmations and blessing and at the
commencement and termination of prayer, meditation or work.
It is said to be the mystical quintessence of the entire
cosmos... the monarch of all sounded things, the mother of
vibrations, and the key to eternal wisdom and power."
[Vol. II, 103-104].
It
is clear that if any Christian is using this particular Om
mantra [amongst other Sanskrit words], then
they are calling on this deity and not the True God that
they intend. It is also clear that those Christians that
dabble with eastern mystical prayer come to embracing the
Cosmology of Christ in their attempt at Syncretism as we
find underpinning Bede Griffiths, Anthony de Mello and
Matthew Fox's 'Creation Spirituality'.
The Word,
"Jesus" is used as a mantra by those teaching
meditation.
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Judging
by the above definition of the "Sanskrit" meaning and use of
the word mantra, one needs to consider if the "Name of
Jesus" should be used in this way. Jesus is not a mantra!
Nor does He need to be conjured up by magic and
incantation to be present to anyone. I suggest that, to do
this is heretical, and blasphemes the person, and the Holy
Name of "Jesus".
Another, perhaps more popular mantra espoused by the WCCM
is the Aramaic word, Maranatha which means, Come Lord
Jesus. - Considering that a mantra 'both invites a
particular being to enter the one using it and also creates
a passive state in the meditator to facilitate this fusion
of beings.' One can begin to see the subtle corruption of
authentic Christian Mystical Theology which I believe is
leading so many spiritually hungry Christians away from the
Tree of Life and sitting them firmly under the Bodhi Tree.
[Genesis
3: 1-15].
[b]
Yoga, Literally, "yoking" and refers to
"Union with Brahman."
There
are many schools of Yoga, and various techniques, but all
have the same ultimate goal of, "union with the
Absolute." The bodily positions and breath control
are intended as aids to "Eastern Meditation" and are a means
of controlling the body in disciplining oneself to renounce
all desires which the body might otherwise impose upon the
mind.
Yoga is designed specifically to induce a state of
trance which supposedly allows the mind to be drawn
upward into a yoking with Brahman. It is a means of
withdrawal from the world of illusion [Maya]
to seek the one true Reality. There are Yoga exercises for
physical fitness only, but no part of Yoga can be separated
from the philosophy behind it. [Source: "Death of a
Guru" by Rabindranath Maharaj].
* There is no part of yoga that is not rooted in the
occult and that includes Hatha touted in the West as a
merely a physical exercise only that is allegedly good for
your health... Oh really?
WHAT
MUKTANANDA SAYS ABOUT HATHA YOGA -
He
teaches this to his
students.
(From
an article, "What Eastern Gurus Say About Occult
Practices Part 1" by Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John
Weldon quoting Muktananda).
"I
was assailed by all sorts of perverse and defiling
emotions. My body started to move, and went on like
this in a confused sort of way.... After a time, my
breathing changed, becoming disturbed. Sometimes my
abdomen would swell with air, after which I would
exhale it with great force. Often the breath that I
took in would be held inside me. I became more and
more frightened... my mind was sick with
fear....
My thoughts became confused, meaningless. My limbs
and body got hotter and hotter. My head felt heavy,
and every pore in me began to ache. When I breathed
out, my breath stopped outside. When I breathed in,
it stopped inside. This was terribly painful and I
lost my courage. Something told me that I would die
at any moment.... I could not understand what was
happening, how it was happening, who was making it
happen....
By now it was after 9:00. Someone had seated
himself in my eyes and was making me see things....
It seemed that I was being controlled by some power
which made me do all these things. My intellect was
completely unstable.... I heard hordes of people
screaming frightfully... and saw strange creatures
from six to fifty feet tall, neither demons nor
demigods, but human in form, dancing naked, their
mouths gaping open. Their screeching was horrible
and apocalyptic.... An army of ghosts and demons
surrounded me. All the while I was locked tight in
the lotus posture, my eyes closed, my chin pressed
down against my throat so that no air could
escape.
Then I felt a searing pain.... I wanted to run
away, but my legs were locked tight in the lotus
posture. I felt as if my legs had been nailed down
permanently in this position. My arms were
completely immobilized....
Then, from over the water, a moonlike sphere about
four feet in diameter came floating in. It stopped
in front of me. This radiant, white ball struck
against my eyes and then passed inside me. I am
writing this just as I saw it. It is not a dream or
an allegory, but a scene which actually
happenedthat sphere came down from the sky
and entered me.... My tongue curled up against my
palate, and my eyes closed. I saw a dazzling light
in my forehead and I was terrified. I was still
locked in the lotus posture, and then my head was
forced down and glued to the ground....
I started to make a sound like a camel, which
alternated with the roaring of a tiger. I must have
roared very loudly, for the people around actually
thought that a tiger had gotten into the sugarcane
field....
I am in a terrible state. I have gone completely
insane. You may not be able to see it from the
outside, but, inside, I am crazy.... My body began
to twist.... Now, it was not I who meditated;
meditation forced itself on me. It came
spontaneously; it was in all the joints of my body.
Then, suddenly, a red light came before me with
such force that it seemed to have been living
inside me. It was two feet tall and shone
brightly.... Every part of my body was emitting
loud crackling and popping sounds....
At this time, I understood nothing about the
various experiences.... Only afterward did I learn
that they were all part of the process pertaining
to [spiritual enlightenment]....
People who have experienced it call it the
awakening of the Kundalini. The experiences I had
had under the mango trees were due to the grace of
my Gurudev Nityananda; they were all his prasad
[blessing]....
Sometimes I would jump and hop like a frog, and
sometimes my limbs would shake violently as though
shaken by a deity. And this was what was actually
happening; a great deity in the form of my guru had
spread all through me as Chiti
[consciousness], and was shaking me
with his inner Shakti
[power]....
The power of the gurus grace enters the
disciples body in a subtle form and does many
great things.... Every day I had meditation like
that. Sometimes my body would writhe and twist like
a snakes, and a hissing sound would come from
inside me....
Sometimes my neck moved so violently that it made
loud cracking sounds, and I became frightened.... I
had many astonishing movements like this. Sometimes
my neck would roll my head around so vigorously
that it would bend right below my shoulders so that
I could see my back.
When the intensity lessened, I became peaceful
again. But because I did not understand these
kriyas [spontaneous yoga movements], I was
always worried and afraid. Later, however, I
learned that this was a Hatha Yoga process
effected by the Goddess Kundalini in order for Her
to move up through the spinal column into the
sahasrara [upper psychic
center]."
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YOU
DECIDE - CAN THIS REALLY BE CHRISTIANIZED? IN MY OPINION -
NO IT CANNOT!
The
man was/is clearly possessed, and it would seem to have been
induced - transferred - by what he calls "The power of
the guru's grace" and that, "My body began to
twist.... Now, it was not I who meditated; meditation forced
itself on me. It came spontaneously; it was in all the
joints of my body." As I read this it astonished me that
the experience was clearly demonic, out of control,
dangerous and could have killed him, and yet the lying
spirit behind it, convinced him that it was grace and
enlightenment.
This description from Muktananda should serve as a
warning and evidence that those teaching Hatha Yoga as being
for physical exercise only are blatant liars. This is
even more repulsive when certain priests and nuns teach this
as well as Raja Yoga on the pretext that it has been
Christianized and only used as a prayer technique, or as Don
Freeman would say, a discipline, and yet even in his
teachings as well as others, we find a clear recognition of
the same phenomenon with the same instruction - Just ignore
it and keep on with your mantra.
As you continue to read through the meanings of the Sanskrit
words in this article, keep this in mind because this is
what all yoga leads you to no matter who teaches it or on
what premise it is based. - As someone once said, "You
cannot come to a sound conclusion based on a false
premise."
[c]
Brahman - The Ultimate
Reality.
Formless,
inexpressible, unknowable, and unknowing; neither personal
nor impersonal; both Creator and all that is created.
Brahman is all and all is Brahman. The ultimate truth and
salvation for the Hindu is to "realise" that he is
himself Brahman [self realization] that he
and all the Universe are one and the same being [I am
God]. Brahmin is everything and yet nothing; it
comprises both good and evil, life and death, health and
diseases and, even the unreality of Maya
[illusion]. [Brahmin is all good, but also,
all evil].
[d]
Self Realization.
The
ultimate goal of Eastern Meditation and Yoga by whatever
name it is called: deliverance from the "illusion" that the
individual self is different from the Universal Self, or
Brahman. Through ignorance man has supposedly forgotten who
he really is and thus thinks of himself as distinct from his
neighbor and Brahman. Through "SELF-REALISATION" he is
liberated from this ignorance of individual existence and
returns to "Union with Brahman" again.
[e]
Nirvana. Literally; a
blowing out" as to extinguish a
candle.
Nirvana
is "heaven" to both Hindu and Buddhist. Supposedly it is
neither a place nor a state and is within us all waiting to
be "realised." It is "nothingness", the bliss that comes
from no longer being able to feel pain or pleasure, through
the extinction of personal existence by absorption into pure
Being.
[f]
Bliss.
The
state of being achieved when the illusion of existence apart
from Brahmin, who is pure existance-knowledge-bliss, has
been dispelled through meditation and enlightenment, and all
desires have ceased. Since this state is said to be beyond
pain or pleasure, Buddha, who was raised a Hindu, thought of
it as "nothingness," which he also called "Nirvana."
[g]
Meditation.
To
the Westerner this signifies rational contemplation, but to
the Eastern Mystic it is just the opposite, causing
considerable confusion on the subject in the West. Eastern
Meditation [taught as Yoga, Zen etc.] is a
technique for detaching oneself from the world of things and
ideas [from Maya] through freeing one's mind
from all voluntary or rational thought, which projects one
into "higher" states of consciousness.
[h]
Higher
Consciousness.
There
are various "levels" of consciousness opened up in Yoga and
Meditation, called "higher" states because they differ from
one's normal state of consciousness and are experienced on
the road to Nirvana. Different schools of Eastern mysticism
define the different ways. Typical states would be
"Unity-Consciousness," where one experiences a mystical
union with the universe and, "God-Consciousness" where one
experiences that he himself is actually God. Similar "states
of consciousness" are experienced through certain drugs such
as LSD, Hypnosis, Mediumistic Trances, Witchcraft
Ceremonies, Voodoo etc., and all seem to be slight
variations of the same occult phenomenon.
[i]
Kundilini, Literally
-"coiled."
This
is the name of a goddess symbolized by a serpent with three
and one half coils, sleeping with its tail in its mouth.
This goddess, or "serpent of life, fire, and wisdom"
supposedly resides in the body of a man near the base of the
spine. When aroused without proper control, it rages like
a vicious serpent inside a man with a force that is
impossible to resist. It is said that without proper
control, the "Kundilini" will produce supernatural psychic
powers having their source in demonic beings and will
ultimately lead to moral, spiritual, and physical
destruction. Nevertheless, it is this "Kundilini"
power that meditation and Yoga are designed to arouse and
control.
[j]
Chakra, Literally - "wheel" or
"disk"
The
word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or disk and signifies one
of seven basic (psychic) energy centers in the body. Each of
these centers correlates to major nerve ganglia branching
forth from the spinal column. In addition the chakras also
correlate to levels of consciousness, archetypal elements,
developmental stages of life, colors, sounds, body
functions, and much, much more.
[Source: "Death of a Guru" by Rabindranath
Maharaj].
Mandala: A
visual mantra.
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A
graphic cosmic symbol shown as a square within a circle
bearing representations of deities arranged symmetrically
used as a meditation aid by Buddhists and Hindus. In the
terminology of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, 1875-1961,
a symbol depicting the endeavor to reunite the self.
The
implications of the building of mandalas (magic
diagrams).
According
to Victor and Victoria Trimondi, experts on Mandala Politics
(see Shadow of the Dalai Lama,
http://www.trimondi.de/SDLE/Index.htm): It is an act of
sorcery -- "a magic title of possession, with which
control over a particular territory can be legitimated....
One builds a magic circle (a mandala) and "anchors" it in
the region to be claimed. Then one summons the gods and
supplicates them [through ritual prayers and
incantations] to take up residence in the 'mandala
palace.' After a particular territory has been occupied by a
mandala, it is automatically transformed into a sacred
center of Buddhist cosmology. Every construction of a
mandala also implies the magic subjugation of the
inhabitants of the region in which the 'magic circle' is
constructed."
They also state, "In the case of the Kalachakra sand
mandala, the places in which it has been built are
transformed into the domains under the control of the
Tibetan time gods. Accordingly, from a tantric viewpoint,
the Kalachakra mandala constructed at great expense in New
York in 1991 would be a cosmological demonstration of power,
which aimed to say that the city now stood under the
governing authority or at least spiritual influence of
Kalachakra...."
(Later in this article we will see the connection of the
Dom Freeman's promotion of this in Canada as advertised on
the WCCM web site).
Jung's
psychology was not scientifically
neutral.
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He
included all sorts of 'pagan' religions in his writings
relating to what he called, the Collective Unconscious.
There are numerous programs on 'spirituality' offered in
Christian circles based on Jung's teachings which use art as
a therapy: By designing your personal Mandala for getting in
touch with the 'self'. However, considering what the word
'Mandala' means and what Jung's psychology is based on, it
cannot be divorced from the ethos behind it.
But we'll let Jung speak for himself.
"I am for those who are out of the Church." Jung wrote in a
letter to Joland Jacobi when he heard she had become a
Catholic.
Jung: "What is so special about Christ, that he
should be the motivational force? Why not another model -
Paul or Buddha or Confucius or Zoroaster?"
In a letter to Freud: "I think we must give
[psychoanalysis] time to infiltrate into people from
many centers, to revivify among intellectuals a feeling for
symbol and myth, ever so gently to transform Christ back
into the soothsaying god of the vine, and in this way absorb
those ecstatic instinctual forces of Christianity for the
one purpose of making the cult and the sacred myth what they
once werea drunken feast of joy where man regained the
ethos and holiness of an
animal."
Right
now you might be thinking this is an over reaction on my
part. After all, if Sister so and so, or Father so and
so taught it to you, then it must be ok. Well, consider the
"words" you have been taught to use such as "mantra". If you
ever asked what that word means you would have been told
that it was only your "prayer word". Perhaps when you
questioned them about the techniques such as visualization
and deep breathing whilst repeating your prayer word, you
were told that, "It doesn't matter, we are only using the
techniques, we have Christianized it". If you ask if it's
some sort of Hindu thing, they simply tell you to "ignore
it".
Also consider
what practices you have been
taught.
Breathing exercises whilst keeping your back straight,
emptying your mind, repetitions of words, imagining Jesus in
front of you, then imagining Jesus coming into you. Perhaps
you have been "guided" to visualize yourself next to a
sparkling brook and walking up a path to a house on the
hilltop where you enter for some form of encounter with
Jesus. This technique is called "visualization" and it is
guided prayer in the same way as that done in Hinduism,
Buddhism and Shamanism. This particular meditation is the
Christianized version of the Buddhist meditation called
"Back to the Market Place".
There is no problem using your imagination to picture a
scene when reading the Bible, but that is a far cry from
sitting in a group and being led by the facilitator as they
project those pictures into your mind - During this
technique you are usually asked to to get in touch with your
Inner Child and converse with it. Often referred to as Inner
Healing or Healing of the Memories, it is nothing more than
a Christianized version of regressive hypnotherapy
masquerading as Christian prayer. If you want to know
exactly what true Christian Meditation really is,
Click
Here
and return.
You may have sat in a cross legged position and gone through
some form of ceremony using fire, water, flowers and incense
and, possibly in front of the Eucharist to give it
credibility. You may have been taught to count down from Ten
to One as you go deeper into so called prayer states
[which in reality is self hypnosis] to get in
touch with "the Christ within". Focusing on the end of your
nose and concentrating on the area between your eyes. This
area is one of the seven "chakras." These are the psychic
energy centers located in various parts of your body through
which your soul can supposedly leave to travel astrally.
Yoga Body Disciplines [Hatha Yoga] are
designed to protect these chakra centers when the
practitioners [Yogi-male, Yogini-female] are
experiencing an out of body experience [astral
flight] to communicate with the ascended
masters on their planetary domains. If you recognize any of
these techniques, then know they are taken directly from
Hinduism [or Buddhism] and you may be
practicing these religions without realizing it.
Certainly, keeping your back straight, focusing and deep
breathing techniques also appear to have their roots in
these practices.
Let's not
just take my word for it -
|
Let us take the word
of the popular author, George A. Maloney S.J. from his book
"Inward Stillness."
[j]
"Many
today are discovering the healing power of deep,
transcendental prayer, found in the prayer disciplines of
the Far Eastern Religions, such as Hinduism, Zen Buddhism,
and the modernized version of Transcendental Meditation
[TM] as taught by Mahirishi Mahesh Yogi. Sufism,
Eastern Christian Hesychasm, and Mind Control Techniques
have their devotees...
Such techniques are not prayer in the Christian
sense... To pass beyond the superficial levels of our own
controlled consciousness in order to pass into the innermost
core of our being, great discipline is required. But as one
does pass through layers of psychic experiences, danger
zones rear up... Repressed material that has been drowned in
the unconscious can rise threateningly to disturb the one in
prayer. Sexual feelings can arise, even influencing our
whole body and bringing us close to move over to see strange
faces of the demonic that flash now brilliantly, now darkly
from within."
Fr. George
Maloney and Necromancy.
|
"Flashes and
lights, psychic powers of telepathy, communing with the dead
can come forth.
"What
is reality, what is hallucination before the beckoning
visions of enticing forms that whirl over the screen of our
consciousness? Voices that we recognize and strange voices
give their messages with impelling realism. Again, what is
real, what is false?... I have known Christians who have
given up Christ and spent several years in India meditating
daily for hours under the guidance of a Hindu guru who felt
they had unleashed powers within themselves that they
could hardly control [Kundilini].
"This summer a veteran yoga meditator in Ohio went into
a trance over a weekend and never returned to this life. He
wanted to project himself as far as he could "astrally."
The demonic is within all of us. We carry within our
minds psychic power undreamed of. Only in Heaven will we
understand what potential is really locked up within our
minds and that for both good and evil. But because such
powers can be dangerous and the evil spirits can enter
and manipulate us if we passively yield to their
presence is no reason why we should avoid deeper prayer."
[bold emphasis mine].
Not only does the author recognize the spiritual, mental
and physical dangers, but encourages the reader to ignore
them, and continue on regardless! We also note that it
admits that these techniques are not prayer, they are
psychic, not spiritual and, admits to Satanic influences. In
spite of this, Fr. George Maloney S.J. refers to it as,
"deeper prayer."
Mons. Vincent Walsh sums this up when he said it was
appropriate for a young person to date different people
before they are married, but when they find the right one
and marry them, it is not appropriate for them to flirt or
date other men or women. He says that it is valid for people
to belong to different religions as they search for the
truth, but when one has found it and becomes a Christian, it
is no longer appropriate for them to flirt or date others
outside their marriage. It would be adultery to do so.
Many of my friends have accused me of fundamentalism in this
regard. Perhaps they have forgotten that I have not always
been a Christian. These practices were part of my life
before then. I have experienced these things first hand so I
"know" what it is that I have rejected to accept Jesus
Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I can assure you, they are
not valid for Christians. Regardless of what people might
think of my position on these matters, I am certain that I
will be vindicated in the end and the Church will act to
protect the faithful.
Rabindranath Maharaj was a Brahmin Priest and was worshipped
as an Avatar [Incarnation of a Hindu deity]
before he found Christ. His understanding and definition of
the words used in the above glossary, come from the "horses
mouth" so to speak. I think you will agree that he, of all
people, would know what he is talking about when he warns
Christians about the dangers they can experience when
practicing or dabbling in these things.
"The Marriage
of East and West".
|
Many years
ago I came across The Marriage of East and West, a
book written by Bede Griffiths OSB. When I began to
read, it didn't take long to confirm my suspicion
of the title.
The late Fr. Bede believed that Christianity was
incomplete [West] until it is
fully synchronized [married]
with Hinduism [East]. He seemed
to believe that Christianity needed feminizing. The
way to accomplish this is to marry Christianity
with Eastern spirituality, practice and thought
with a balance of left brain and right brain
functions; male-female.
Whilst Fr. Bede firmly claimed that he was a
Christian, he included the Hindu scriptures in his
Mass. Not only that, his altar displayed a
great deal of Hindu paraphernalia, not the least of
which was a statue of the Snake god Kundilini right
at the front and attached to the door of the
Tabernacle. It seems to me that he [like so
many] spent more time preaching the virtues of
Hinduism rather than Christianity and affronts the
Eucharist in the Tabernacle with a Satanic deity to
seal the doors. In other words, to access the
Eucharist we must go through the goddess Kundilini
first - How blasphemous can they get before
retribution strikes. Not only is this a nefarious
sacrilege but I wonder if he, and many like him,
consider that this might be a serious offense to
Hindus too?
The John Main/Freeman WCCM are closely
associated with Griffith's and his spiritual
adultery and recommend his works to their
members. Not only that, both Griffiths and
Freeman are real pals with the Dalai Lama who is
doing a marvelous job of Buddhising the world and,
through these priests and their nuns - the Catholic
Church. Do not underestimate the impact of all this
as these pictures show. (Further on you will see
the connection between the Dalai
Lama/Freeman-yoking too).
The evidence speaks for itself and this is
especially notable in the fact that Griffiths has
replaced the Crucifix with an abomination called
"The Cosmic Cross." This is the penultimate
syncretism and corruption of Catholics that have
been blinded by the "charming" (a witchcraft
technique) of Griffiths and his satanic
disciples. Why am I so blunt? Because some people
can only be awoken by a hammer blow to the third
eye chakra! Do take note of the use of the OM
mantra, and if you did not read what it really
means earlier in this article, go back and
read
it again
to see the incredible effrontery of this so-called
Catholic priest.

|
The
sacrilegious Cosmic Cross used as a
Shantivanam community symbol by Bede
Griffiths.
He
says, "The Cosmic Cross bears the
inscription: Saccidananda Namah around the
circle, and OM
at the centre of the cross. This means
that we try to live our Benedictine Life
in the context of Indian
spirituality, that is, in the
recognition of the Divine Presence in the
whole cosmos and in the centre of our own
being."
(Dom
Bede Grififiths)
Its
very bastardized symbolism states that the
Cross of Calvary was ineffective and this
cross brings redemption: The crucified OM
mantra becomes the savior and Hinduism the
true faith; "Indian
spirituality".
|
|

Lama & Griffiths: A happily married couple.
Please note the dominant hand position of the Dalai
Lama. Griffiths is indeed submissive.

Griffiths offers arati at a celebration honoring
founders: Swami Abhishiktananda and Fr. Jules
Monchanin.

Griffiths and Sr. Pascaline Coff, foundress of
Osage Monastery in Sand Springs, OK. USA. Please
note sister's cross. It is not the Crucifix! See
below.
|
The following
testimonies posted on the WCCM web site are
disturbing in their ignorance of the Bible and
Christian spirituality. Read them and judge for
yourself if they express a proclamation of Jesus or
another doctrine other than Christian.
|
FROM THE WCCM
[World Community of Christian Meditation] WEB
SITE 2003
"...
By 1992 it seemed crisis time was approaching in my
spiritual life. Then one Sunday after Mass I saw a small
advertisement inviting people to come to a certain church
hall in Brisbane to hear Dom Bede Griffiths speak. The photo
of a man with long white hair and beard did not fit my image
of a monk but I said to myself, "Why not go?" The hall was
packed. Down the centre isle walked a thin, frail-looking,
bearded old man in saffron robes. I couldn't believe he was
a Benedictine monk. And then he began to speak with his
beautiful Oxford English accent! He spoke about the
Universe, morphogenetic fields, the interconnection of
energy fields, then on to the Vedas, the Vedanta and the
Upanishads. I was turned upside down and I can remember that
evening as if it were yesterday.
The first step I took was to buy "The Marriage of East and
West." I began to meditate. I bought "New Vision of Reality"
and tapes and videos, anything by Bede Griffiths! I also
turned to John Main, Laurence Freeman, Abishktananda and
there have been many other teachers. However it is with love
and gratefulness that I look at Bede Griffiths. I never met
him or knew him personally but it doesn't matter because we
will meet again in that other way. [Name omitted
by the author] OSB Obl - Kenilworth, Qld,
Australia."
We note that there is NO mention of Jesus Christ or the
Gospels in Griffiths' teachings to this priest. On the
contrary, Griffiths espouses, preaches and extols the
virtues of metaphysics and New Age concepts along with the
Hindu scriptures and gives no testimony to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ or of the Christian Bible. It is clearly
Hinduism and Buddhism along with New Age metaphysics et al
that are promulgated by these meditators following Bede
Griffiths OSB, John Main OSB and Dom Freeman OSB.
When asked for direction about a dream in which a
Buddhist statue smiles at a participant on a guided retreat,
the priest concerned does not explain about Jesus Christ,
but directs the person to Bede Griffiths' book, The Marriage
of East and West. Judging by the response of the participant
it only approves of, and reinforces his previous involvement
with Hinduism.
He says, "...I was at the Pecos Monastery. A monastery that
is part of the family of monasteries that Fr. Laurence
belongs to. I had a dream: a Buddhist statue turned and
smiled at me. I was on a guided retreat so the next morning
I asked my spiritual adviser, Fr. ----, how would you
interpret this dream? He was quiet for a moment then popped
up and said; "Read Fr. Bede." Soon after, in reading Fr.
Bede's book "The Marriage of East and West," I was
introduced to Fr. John Main. I am looking forward to this
year's John Main Seminar. I was raised catholic, I spent 4
years in a Hindu Ashram, Christ is again Lord and Sat Guru.
For anyone who has been touched by Hindu spirituality this
seminar will be wonderful. If you cannot make it, get the
tapes. Peace. [Name omitted by the author] Phoenix
AZ"
To
the discerning reader these letters should speak for
themselves as a witness to the deceiving spirit at work
here. However, I do not cast any judgment on the authors
of these testimonials and they are published here in good
faith that they are public domain. I have removed reference
to any names other than those of whose doctrines I am
concerned with. However, I do cast the responsibility on
those priests who teach this to them; Their ordination
should compel them to preach Christ and him crucified and
not the doctrines of false gods. I do call upon the Church
to take these matters to heart for a more serious
consideration and I hope that She wakes up quickly to this
spiritual syncretism and accommodation. [The
Baptism of Fire]

Christian
Meditation.
Dom
Freeman meditating using a Mantra and breathing
techniques in the ancient Christian tradition
according to John Main.
|

Buddhist
Meditation.
Buddhist
Nun meditating using a Mantra and breathing
techniques in the ancient Buddhist tradition
according to Buddha.
|

The Dalai
Lama & Dom Freeman meditating according to each
other.
--------------------------------------------------
For
many years I have challenged Catholics who have
maintained that they were only using the
techniques, telling them that, "Prayer is not a
technique - It is a relationship". I noticed
recently on the WCCM web site, that the new word
replacing Techniques is now
"Disciplines".
|

STOP
FOR A MOMENT AND TEST YOUR SKILLS OF
OBSERVATION
Do
actions speak louder than words?
Take
a close look at this young man and then name the
religion he is practicing and giving witness to by
his posture. When you have concluded your
impression click
here
to see if you are correct.
|
DISCIPLINE:
A state of order maintained by training and
control; instruction and excersise designed to
train to proper conduct or action. - Webster's
Dictionary.
|
Faith and
Reason - East and West Dialogue.
Dialogue,
which is a frank exchange of ideas or views in an effort to
attain mutual understanding, is vastly different from
actually practicing something. In the encyclical 'Faith and
Reason' the Pope encourages us to learn from what he calls
'the rich heritage of the East', but nowhere does he
encourage us to take on their religious practices and
disciplines as Dom Freeman is doing. What is offensive to me
is the propagation of the idea that these yoga meditations
using mantras, are Christian.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't investigate that which is
good and compatible and, I firmly believe that many of those
Christians who practice these things are genuinely seeking
the Lord with a good heart albeit in ignorance and error.
However, I cannot say the same for Dom Freeman and the other
Catholic nuns and priests that teach this eastern mystical
syncretism. Therefore by presenting this article I am not
trying to be uncharitable to anyone. I am simply attempting
to make people aware of what they might be doing without
understanding it. I am however, saying to those who know the
difference - Stop lying, confusing and deceiving people by
your words. You are guilty of corruption and deception and
as Jesus said, "It is far better for you to be thrown into a
lake with a millstone around your neck than to lead one of
these little ones astray".
Does Freeman [The successor of John Main]
forget that Buddhism is the ultimate atheistic humanism, or
does he simply ignore the fact? Since the object is to learn
prayer from the Dalai Lama's Buddhism, how is it that
someone who doesn't believe in [a] god and
yet has so many acts of worship, teach anyone about praying
to the living and true God? Clearly it is not prayer, nor is
it meditation as practiced by the Christian Saints and early
Desert Fathers as John Main has claimed.
Published in the Record Catholic Newspaper in Western
Australia, Freeman told how John Main learned meditation and
mantra prayer from Eastern religions. He said this is the
prayer-methods used by the early Desert Fathers and
Christian mystics like St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of
Avila and many others. As stated above, I have read all the
works of St. Teresa, John of the Cross and others and there
is absolutely no mention nor even the slightest hint that
they ever did such a thing! In addition, you will not find
this in the Bible or any Catholic teaching.
Even more alarming, is that in order for Father John Main to
learn yoga, he needed to submit to his guru and given his
mantra by initiation because a mantra cannot be passed on
except by a living (Hindu/Buddhist) guru. This is an act of
betrayal to Jesus, because submission and a religious
initiation makes the guru his Lord and Master over Jesus
Christ. Furthermore, in order for Father Freeman to continue
this work, he too needed to submit and receive his mantra
and initiation in the same way. Hence, we are dealing with
Buddhist priests in Catholic garb.
As much as John Main postulated the authenticity of his
mantra meditation as rooted in, and derived from, ancient
Christianity is not only a lie, but it is not borne out by
Freeman's statements on the ABC series -
ABC Sunday Nights; 18/02/2007 - Christian Meditation
with Benedictine monk, Dom Laurence Freeman -
http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/stories/s1850678.htm.
ABC
programme excerpt
- "John Main was born and raised in Catholicism. After
studying Law he joined the British diplomatic service and
was sent to Malaya. One day he visited an Indian monk to
thank him for the work he was doing for peace in that
conflict-torn country. During the conversation he realized
he was with a man of spiritual depth and they began to speak
about prayer. This was John Mains first
introduction to meditation. ... The monk opened John
Mains mind to a prayer of silence and simplicity that
itself opened the heart to the presence of the Spirit of God
praying in us. The universality of meditation is shown by
the fact that he was able to learn how to meditate from
another tradition while continuing to grow in his own."
(Freeman).
I
guess that sums it up; it is not Christian meditation, nor
is it rooted in it as claimed.
Also
we note that the concept of the universality of meditation
mentioned is not that from Christianity but in fact,
Buddhist. - This displays clearly the syncretism and
accommodation of Main and Freeman in that the Buddhist
meditation is the universality.
THE
AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATIVE
PRAYER.
I
noted after reading about a WCCM retreat
in Penang in January 2003, that Freeman
and participants referred to this
meditation as a gift, "Each
participant was asked to relate his/her
own experience on how they received this
gift." - "Fr Laurence reminded us that
meditation is a gift to be
shared."
Titles
of Freeman's publications reveal what I
consider to be a subtle shift establishing
this Christianized Eastern meditation to
be accepted as a Christian
[Holy Spirit]
Gift.
Such titles as Sharing the
Gift are very interesting. For
example, using a capital G for gift
gives it a Holy Spirit connotation. I am
now waiting to see if this makes the
subtle transition to becoming refereed to
as a Gift of the Holy Spirit in future
Freeman teachings.
In
isolation this seems harmless enough until
we note other titles like, 'Jesus the
Teacher
Within.'
This title also seems very innocent
and we can forget that John Main learned
his techniques from Eastern mystics.
The
god
within
concept is very essential to New Age
spirituality and it is central to
Hinduism. Most importantly we need to see
if this has any Scriptural basis. St.
John's Gospel explains that Jesus told his
disciples that he would send
Another Advocate. He taught that
this Advocate was the Holy Spirit, who, at
Pentecost would be 'in' them. Jesus said
that The Holy Spirit would teach
them [and us], all things
and lead us into all truth; It is the role
of the Holy Spirit therefore to reveal the
Mind of God. - In the Bible, they shall
be taught by God is referring to Jesus
during his earthly ministry and
afterwards, to the indwelling Holy Spirit
at Pentecost and onwards.
|
|
The
Baptism of Fire
The
Prophecy. The Promise.
The Anointing & The Consequences.
A
short film produced by Eddie Russell FMI tells the
audio visual
story of the prophecies from 1990 until now.
How will this Fire effect these forms of spiritual
adultery.
Is
it a prophetic message for our times?
You
be the judge.
|
John Main, Dom
Freeman and the Cassian Semipelagianism
heresy.
One
of the main mystics cited by Dom Freeman to validate
authenticity of his yoga-mantra is John Cassian, a monk and
ascetic writer of Southern Gaul, and the first to introduce
the rules of Eastern monasticism into the West. John Cassian
was regarded as the originator of Semipelagianism that was
finally condemned by the Council of Orange in 529.
Semipelagianism: A doctrine of grace
advocated by monks of Southern Gaul at and around Marseilles
after 428. It aimed at a compromise between the two extremes
of Pelagianism and Augustinism, and was condemned as heresy
at the Ecumenical Council of Orange in 529 after disputes
extending over more than a hundred years. The name
Semipelagianism was unknown both in Christian antiquity and
throughout the Middle Ages; during these periods it was
customary to designate the views of the Massilians simply as
the "relics of the Pelagians" (reliqui Pelagianorum),
an expression found already in St. Augustine (Ep. ccxxv, n.
7, in P. L., XXXIII, 1006). The most recent investigations
show that the word was coined between 1590 and 1600 in
connexion with Molina's doctrine of grace, in which the
opponents of this theologian believed they saw a close
resemblance to the heresy of the monks of Marseilles (cf.
"Revue des sciences phios. et théol.", 1907, pp. 506
sqq.). After this confusion had been exposed as an error,
the term Semipelagianism was retained in learned circles as
an apt designation for the early heresy only. -
New
Advent Encyclodedia
As stated previously, you cannot come to a sound
conclusion based on a false premise and it would seem that
WCCM teachings and syncretism are just that, and considering
the heretical doctrines of Pelagious that, along with the
influences of Caelestius (411-415) should
alert us to serious error. It said;
- 1.
Even if Adam had not sinned, he would have died.
2. Adam's sin harmed only himself, not the human
race.
3. Children just born are in the same state as Adam
before his fall.
4. The whole human race neither dies through Adam's sin
or death, nor rises again through the resurrection of
Christ.
5. The (Mosaic Law) is as good a guide to heaven as the
Gospel.
6. Even before the advent of Christ there were men who
were without sin.
("Contra traducem peccati")
If there is any
doubt that the WCCM is New Age and therefore Neo Gnosticism,
the following announcement from their 2004 website should
leave no doubts to the discerning
Catholic.
"On...
April.... 2004, at 7:30 pm, Father
Richard Rohr,
OFM, [The Enneagram man] well-known author
and retreat leader, will deliver an address in a
continuation of the WCCM's Way of Peace initiative. The talk
will presented at St. ... Catholic Church, Texas. Father
Rohr was chosen to continue the Way of Peace because of his
powerful and eloquent witness for nonviolence and
peacemaking..."
"On the weekend of April... in Houston Texas, Father
Laurence Freeman, OSB, the director and spiritual teacher of
the World Community for Christian Meditation, and
Father Richard Rohr, OFM, Founding Director and animator
of the Center for Action and Contemplation, will present a
conference entitled Seeking Peace: A Dialogue on Jesus."
"...Both Father Laurence and Father Richard
believe that Jesus is one of the few individuals
in history who can be called a universal teacher
by all people. Jesus teaches and embodies not just a
path of personal spiritual formation, but a way of tolerance
and compassion, a unique bridge of the spirit among
people of different faiths, between rich and poor, and
among those suffering conflict or division. The great social
and psychological distresses of modern society call for a
new and deeper contemplative response. Each human being,
whatever his or her circumstances, is called to a
contemplative peace, and is capable of
it."
Incredible!
-
Jesus
is not presented as Lord of all, but as a "universal
teacher embodying a unique BRIDGE of the spirit to
OTHER FAITHS!" - Note that 'spirit' does not have a
capital "S" referring to the Holy Spirit, but a lower-case
's' referring to the human spirit. If you read our article
on Kything
prayer you will see this connection very clearly.
Also note this comment, "A short meeting of lay
people committed to the practice was held after the seminar.
A six week programme has already been scheduled for this
group. This we hope is the starting point of the Journey to
the Centre of our BEING which we are all called to make by
Jesus. It is Jesus who prays in us, with us and for
us."
I cannot find any reference to Jesus asking us to make a
journey to the centre of our being. Also, according to
Saint Paul, it is the Holy Spirit that prays in us.
If Jesus is also praying for us, then it is easy to
see why these people only sit around thinking about and
contemplating the whole thing. Jesus mediates, he does
not do our praying for us. We pray in the Holy
Spirit, through Jesus, to the Father. The Lord's Prayer
alone makes that clear when Jesus says, "When YOU pray, pray
this way, Our Father...".

Freeman and Rhor together at the
seminars. It seems that the connection to the
Enneagram and a new form of
Kything
from Freeman have finally got married; Kythed in
2005.
|
If
Freeman is not influenced by New Age thinking as he
and his disciples emphatically claim, he would not
see the value in the Enneagram and feminism by
working with Rhor.
It seems this new initiative is another step in
spiritual integration and the "marriage" that Bede
Griffiths espoused that is inclusive of all faiths
and the basic spiritual tenet of the New Age
Movement.
This marriage of Rhor & Freeman: Meditation and
the Enneagram, seems to be the next step. We will
now have to see if those WCCM meditators are now
asked to do Enneagrams as well, and the Enneagram
people asked to deepen their meditations by
learning from the WCCM.
To further advance my argument regarding the New
Age spirit of these priests, we find on the same
page a bold link promoting Yoga and Rolfing
classes, and at great cost if you do them I might
add. On this page you will find several dates
advertising, "Meditation & yoga retreats with
Laurence Freeman and Giovanni Felicioni." Felicioni
teaches Yoga, Rolfing, Bodyworks and,
"Touching".
|
Also on the
WCCM events page are these disturbing announcements amongst
others.
"John
Main Seminar 2004 to be led by Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.
on the topic, "Heart of Flesh: A Feminist
Spirituality for Women and Men' at ... The Seminar will
be preceded by a 3-day silent retreat with Fr. Laurence
Freeman at the same venue."
"April 04 ... His Holiness the Dalai Lama will confer the
Kalachakra Initiation in Toronto. This is primarily for
Tibetan Buddhists but is open to
all."
The
way this announcement reads you could be forgiven for
thinking that the Freeman and Chiitister segments are two
separate things but they are not. They are connected and
form a whole.
The constant brainwashing techniques used on these retreats
is to fill the participants with these teachings and
techniques and then keep them silent for three days. Those
that have done this have told me that they are not allowed
to interject and the three days of silence causes them to
focus only on what they have been told and taught to
practice.
The silence itself is the indoctrination time. By
preceding the seminars, the silence causes people to focus
only on what is to come. At the end of three days the
participants are champing at the bit for the answers to the
questions arising in their minds that have been stimulated
by the subject matter. This works on the fact that no-one
attends without first hearing of, knowing something, or
having an interest in the subjects at hand.
So
far the list of Freeman's "Christian meditations" are in
fact, Yoga, Mantras, Enneagram, Rolfing, Buddhist
Initiations, Hinduism, New Age and
Feminism!
July
2008:
Freeman has now
claimed at the 08-WYD in Sydney, that his connection with
Buddhism is only a wrong
perception!
"Father Freeman said Christian meditation is making a
comeback, and the practice is being reclaimed from the
common perception that it is a Buddhist
tradition."
- Zenit / WYD SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 18, 2008.
Frankly,
I just do not know what to say about this incredulous claim
that gained so much publicity through World Youth Day
reports. It leaves me speechless considering the body of
evidence to the contrary. How can Freeman now disassociate
the self-confessed foundational connections after so many
years, so much teaching, practice and indoctrination?
Dom, does this mean that all your Christian Meditation
people and groups have now given up yoga and mantras?
I doubt it. This is just another deception, and even
certain cardinals have swallowed the con. It is a blatant
hypocritical statement contradicting everything Main and
Freeman have ever said and taught about this form of
so-called Christian meditation! And as someone once said,
"Denial is not a river in Egypt."
Wake up Church!
Even blind Freddy can see this for what it really
is.
These Catholic
priests and all like them would be wise to learn from
Sadhu
Sundar Singh.
Still
not convinced of the Dalai Lama's real intentions?
Click
Here
and return to this page. When you have viewed this site, you
can then ask yourself why Dom Freeman would be so interested
in Buddhist spirituality and not only teach us to practice
it, but promote the Dalai Lama's sexual sorcery.
PONTIFICAL
COUNCIL FOR CULTURE - PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTER RELIGIOUS
DIALOGUE.
3.5.
The god within" and theosis Here is
a key point of contrast between New Age and Christianity. So
much New Age literature is shot through with the conviction
that there is no divine being out there, or in
any real way distinct from the rest of reality. From Jung's
time onwards there has been a stream of people professing
belief in the god within. Our problem, in a New
Age perspective, is our inability to recognize our own
divinity, an inability which can be overcome with the help
of guidance and the use of a whole variety of techniques for
unlocking our hidden [divine] potential. The
fundamental idea is that 'God' is deep within ourselves. We
are gods, and we discover the unlimited power within us by
peeling off layers of inauthenticity.
63
Spiritual
Pride prevails in the Meditation
Movement.
Over
the years I have noticed an attitude change in people I know
who have taken up this meditation. On one occasion I met
a woman who used to attend my prayer group. After the usual
politeness I asked why she hadn't been to the meetings,
"Oh, no, that's not for me, I'm into higher things now."
She informed me that she was doing the John Main
meditations. This incident could be ignored as pride-filled
vanity from one individual except that I have had the same
response from many people since then. When I have tried to
talk to certain priests who do this meditation about my
concerns with Yoga, they have patronizingly passed me off
with a verbal pat on the head as child who just doesn't
understand. Consequently I have noticed a certain elitism,
superiority and spiritual pride in these people and it seems
to be a common fruit of this spirituality.
The insidious fruit of this spiritual vanity showed its
ugly side when I recently discovered that invitations to
preach in a certain country have been cut off through the
influence of one woman that heads the WCCM and another
national movement with international ties. This is
because I explained my concerns at a private dinner with
close friends. In addition, members of the WCCM in
Perth, Western Australia, recently tried to get this page
taken down using an attmepted manipulation of the Archbishop
when Fr Freeman came to launch his book on the WCCM in
Perth. As you can see, this page is still here.
Although
this form of meditation has wide support within the Church,
even from many bishops, and it certainly did at the 08 World
Your Day in Sydney, the question remains as to whether this
is really Christian or not? If it is, as the WCCM claim
it to be, then other questions arise about why there is such
a clear and obvious connection with Hindu and Buddhist
spirituality as well as Dom Freeman's relationship with the
Dalai Lama? If it is in fact Christian, why is there such a
strong connection and promotion of these Eastern religious
methods and religious practice?
It seems that the term CHRISTIAN MEDITATION is a wrong
terminology. CHRISTIANS MEDITATING would be a more
accurate and fitting terminology to describe the prayer
methods of the WCCM.
Buddhism is
NOT accepted by His Holiness Pope John Paul
II.
|
Crossing the
Threshold of Hope.
Pope
John Paul II
Vittorio
Messori: I would like to ask you to speak more fully
on the subject of Buddhism. Essentially - as you well know -
it offers a "doctrine of salvation" that seems increasingly
to fascinate many Westerners as an "alternative" to
Christianity or as a sort of ''complement" to it, at least
in terms of certain ascetic and mystical techniques. John
Paul II: Yes. you are right and I am grateful to you for
this question. Among the religions mentioned in the Council
document Nostra Actate. it is necessary to pay special
attention to Buddhism. which from a certain point of view,
like Christianity is a religion of salvation.
Nevertheless, it needs to be said right away that the
doctrines of salvation in Buddhism and Christianity are
opposed.
The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans, is a
well-known figure in the West. I have met him a few times.
He brings Buddhism to people of the Christian West, stirring
up interest both in Buddhist spirituality and in its methods
of praying. I also had the chance to meet the Buddhist
"patriarch" in Bangkok, Thailand, and among the monks that
surrounded him there were several, for example, who came
from the United States. Today we are seeing a certain
diffusion of Buddhism in the West.
The
Buddhist doctrine of salvation constitutes the central
point, or rather the only point, of this system.
Nevertheless, both the Buddhist tradition and the methods
deriving from it have an almost exclusive negative
soteriology. The "enlightenment" experienced by Buddha comes
down to the conviction that the world is bad, that it is the
source of evil and of suffering for man. To liberate oneself
from this evil, one must free oneself from this world,
necessitating a break with the ties that join us to external
realities existing in our human nature, in our psyche, in
our bodies. The more we are liberated from these ties, the
more we become indifferent to what is in the world, and the
more we are freed from suffering, from the evil that has its
source in the world. Do we draw near to God in this way?
This is not mentioned in the "enlightenment" conveyed
by Buddha.
Buddhism is in
large measure an "atheistic"
system.
We do not free ourselves from evil through the good which
comes from God; we liberate ourselves only through
detachment from the world, which is bad. The fullness of
such a detachment is not union with God, but what is called
nirvana, a state of perfect indifference with regard to the
world. To save oneself means, above all, to free oneself
from evil by becoming indifferent to the world, which is the
source of evil. This is the culmination of the spiritual
process.
At various times, attempts to link this method with the
Christian mystics have been made - whether it is with
those from northern Europe (Eckhart. Tauler, Suso,
Ruysbroeck) or the later Spanish mystics (Saint
Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross). But when
Saint John of the Cross, in the Ascent of Mount Garmel and
in the Dark Night of the Soul, speaks of the need for
purification, for detachment from the world of the senses,
he does not conceive of that detachment as an end in itself.
"To arrive at what now you do not enjoy, you must go where
you do not en joy. To reach what you do not know, you must
go where you do not know. To come into possession of what
you do not have, you must go where now you have nothing"
(Ascent of Mount Carmel, i, 13, ii).
In Eastern
Asia these classic texts of Saint John of the Cross have
been, at times, interpreted as a confirmation of Eastern
ascetic methods.
But this Doctor of the Church does not merely propose
detachment from the world. He proposes detachment from the
world in order to unite oneself to that which is outside of
the world - by this I do not mean nirvana, but a personal
God. Union with Him comes about not only through
purification, but through love. Carmelite mysticism begins
at the point where the reflections of Buddha end, together
with his instructions for the spiritual life. In the active
and passive purification of the human soul. In those
specific nights of the senses and the spirit, Saint John of
the Cross sees, above all, the preparation necessary for the
human soul to be permeated with the living flame of love.
And this is also the title of his major work - The Living
Flame of Love.
Therefore, despite similar aspects, there is a fundamental
difference. Christian mysticism from every period beginning
with the era of the Fathers of the Eastern and Western
Church, to the great theologians of Scholasticism (such
as Saint Thomas Aquinas), to the northern European
mystics. to the Carmelite mystics - is not born of a purely
negative "Enlightenment". It is not born of an awareness of
the evil which exists in man's attachment to the world
through the senses, the intellect, and the spirit. Instead.
Christian mysticism is born of the Revelation of the living
God. This God opens Himself to union with man, arousing in
him the capacity to be united with Him,especially by means
of the theological virtues - faith, hope and, above all,
love. (Crossing the Threshold of Hope Pope John Paul
II) [Bold emphasis mine]
AUTHENTIC
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION IN THE BIBLE
HERE
Dalai Lama
tells Australian school children that Gay Sex is
OK.
|
During
a visit to Australia the Dalai Lama was reverently
interviewed on early morning national television on May 22nd
2002. When asked to give his views on homosexuality and same
sex marriage his answer was, "As long as there is no
abuse... Men, men, woman, woman, OK". The incredible thing
is that schools with students attending in the thousands
revered the Dalai Lama like some divine being with teachers
groveling before him as the epitome of wisdom and
enlightenment. The question I have to ask, and the one I
must challenge Freeman with is; Since when did light have
fellowship with darkness?
You cannot dismiss the philosophy from the discipline and I
suggest this is spiritual adultery is detrimental to
Catholics and young people in general judging by his May
2002 visit to Australian schools. - This Freeman/Lama
fellowship and Freeman's adoption of Buddhist spiritual
disciplines only condones the Dalai Lama's views. I doubt
very much that the Dalai Lama on the other hand has learned
how to use Christian spiritual disciplines as a result of
this association with Catholics. On the contrary, he seems
to be doing a very good job of evangelizing us without any
effort on his part, which of course is, pure Zen.
Words have meanings and they are real and have real effects
no matter what language they are in. Jesus tells us that by
our words we will be acquitted or by our words we will be
condemned. He also says that we are accountable for every
idle word that falls from our lips. He also tells us that
the one is wise who hears his words and acts upon them.
[Matt
7:24-27 - Matt 12:36-37] DOMINUS IESUS.
Repentance,
restitution and turning to the Bible and true doctrine is
the only hope for those who lead God's people astray. If you
are one of these, then heed the Word of God lest your names
be completely removed from the Book of Life. [Because
you were in fact created, this is an eternal absolute,
conscious living knowledge that you are totally forgotten by
God and removed from his creative thought, because as far as
he is concerned, you had never existed: Your name never
appeared in the Book].
Buddhism - Is
it really a gentle
religion?
This
report appears on NEWS.com.au.
09
Feb 04
Arsonists
torch charity office
ARSONISTS including Buddhist monks firebombed the office
of a Christian charity today amid increasing religious
tensions in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, officials said.
More than a dozen men hurled petrol bombs at a building in
Anuradhapura housing the World Vision office, setting it
ablaze, police said.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization
serving poor children and families in nearly 100 countries.
The organization has been conducting social work in
Anuradhapura, about 180 kilometers northeast of the capital,
Colombo, for years.
"Nine men, including three Buddhist monks and a university
professor, have been arrested for the attack," said MN
Junaid, secretary to the interior ministry.
The arrests were the first since President Chandrika
Kumaratunga ordered police to take tough actions in response
to mounting attacks on Christian places of worship.
Attacks on churches have escalated since December following
the funeral of a Buddhist monk, Gangodavila Soma, who led a
campaign against religious conversions by Christian
groups.
Although medical reports said he died of a heart attack,
some Buddhists have blamed Christians for his death.
Buddhists make up 70 per cent of Sri Lanka's 18.6 million
people. Buddhist groups have urged the government to
introduce legislation against religious conversions. About 6
per cent of Sri Lankans are Christians.
<End>
The
above report is not isolated; Hinduism also wants to
outlaw Christian evangelisation in several parts of India.
Pakistan has the infamous Blasphemy Law and the new European
Constitution omits the role of Christianity in the history
of Europe. The reality seems to be that Christianity is
becoming illegal, and when we consider the UN Peace Summit
2000 we can see that the major tenet of New Age 4th Reich's
agenda that calls for the abolition of Christianity, Islam
and Judaism is taking root through many areas and currently
focussing on Christianity.
Of course this is not true of all Buddhists as much as
anyone else, but when we also consider the Mayanmar
[Burma] government's massive financial support of
Buddhism to build gold layered temples whilst literally
giving Christian parishes a few bags of rice and then
boasting about it on the front pages of newspapers for an
example, we really need to wonder about true justice in a
world that prides itself on equality; the human rights
violations against Christians continue with impunity in many
countries and without comment or censure. Therefore, I have
to question the WCCM's relationship with the Dalai Lama as
the head of Buddhism.
WCCM are not
the only pseudo Christian Meditation
organization.
|
There
are many others claiming to be authentic "Christian"
meditation, but just like the WCCM they all use techniques
and teachings from Hinduism and Buddhism. They will usually
quote Meister
Eckhart,
the Christian mystics and others to give them credibility.
To
the unsuspecting Catholic ignorant of the Bible, this
mystical and biblical gobble-gook is very convincing. The
so-called Association of Christian Meditators
[ACM] have a link called "A Judeo-Christian
technique of meditation." This site looks very Catholic but
apart from mixing Eckhart, Thomas Merton (another serious
problem), Hinduism and Buddhism, they communicate with
extra-terrestials telling adherents that "It doesn't
matter who communicates with you, it's the message that
matters." Even the most innocuous meditation exponents
will offer body posture instructions. All of these things
will be your clue that they are not authentic regardless of
the Christian words or images used by these people.
There is no
such thing as "Christian Zen" nor a "Marriage of East and
West."
The
only marriage for the Church is to Christ! That is the only
wedding that Jesus of Nazareth will attend when He comes for
His Bride. He will expect her to be ready for Him, prepared
and waiting, clearly distinguished as His. He is not going
to enter a relationship with other gods nor practice their
ways. There is only "One Way" for Christians to follow;
Jesus Christ, the One and Only True God, the "Word" that has
come in the flesh!
The teachers of these techniques wrap their argument up in
the Christian Mystical Theology of St. Teresa of Avila, St.
John of the Cross, the Desert Fathers and many others
implying, no, stating clearly, that this is what they were
doing way back then. John Main allegedly 'discovered' this
ancient tradition and developed it to its present form.
The
truth is that John Main developed this so-called ancient
Christian method of meditation from Buddhist and Hindu
teachings.
I have read all of those works including the Book of Privy
Counseling and The Cloud of Unknowing as well as The Desert
Fathers and I cannot find anywhere the word mantra, let
alone the style of prayer taught today. Jesus certainly
didn't use Yoga. Unless of course, you believe he went to
India between the Resurrection and Ascension to learn this
stuff as the New Age Movement, Theosophists and Cabalists
would have us believe.
Never-the-less, the excommunicated Dominican priest Matthew
Fox, author of Original Blessing, the foundation of his
teachings on Creation Spirituality says in the book,
Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart's Creation Spirituality in
New Translation. - Introduction and Commentaries by Matthew
Fox - The work of the 17th century Polish mystic-poet
Angelus Silesius has been called a "seventeen-century
edition of Eckhart" and, the 14th century Flemish mystic Jan
van Ruysbroeck was influenced by him. - Fox continues, "We
can be sure," says scholar Jeanne Ancelet-Hustache, "that
through the intermediary of Flemish mystics, Eckhart's
thought had anonymously found its way even into Teresa of
Avila and Saint John of the Cross"...
Meister
Eckhart was condemned posthumously by a Papal Decree issued
on March 27th 1329, and yet, in spite of this, Eckhart
still seems to influence Catholic spirituality today and the
connection between the WCCM and its New Age Syncretism might
not seem immediately clear, but a closer examination shows
this to be so. There is more about Eckhart later. In the
meanwhile let us continue with a closer look at Dom Freeman
and his so-called 'Christian' Meditation.

This photo of Belitz appears on the Silva Method
Instructors web site.
|
Belitzkreig.
The
line of spiritual infamy cannot pass without the
mention of Fr. Justin Belitz OFM and his Silva
Method of Mind Control, touted in Catholic parishes
as, "Success: Full Thinking" and "Success: Full
Living."
As a qualified Silva Master, Belitz has
successfully morphed the occult Silva Method of
Mind Control into titles more palatable with
Catholic clergy and in turn the laity, and he is
seemingly very successful in his alchemy.
Certainly, judging by the amount of visits to Perth
WA alone over the years, it would confirm this to
be so.
Parishes that have hosted this occult master in
Perth are: North Beach Parish, Bunbury Parish,
Infant Jesus Parish in Morley to name a few, where
he has conducted his Success: Full Thinking
retreat, and, May We All Be One workshops.
|
But why should
we concern ourselves with this Catholic
priest?
All Belitz's programs are based the vile occult Course
in Miracles and the Silva Method of Mind control of which he
is a registered and trained master.
At the formation of his method, the occultist, Jose Silva
trained 39 schoolchildren from Laredo, Texas, in the use of
ESP. A book of the subject states that Silva "had
developed the first method in history that can train anyone
to use ESP, and he had thirty-nine repeatable experiments to
prove it." In a quick parallel, we must take serious note
that Belitz also taught in Catholic schools in Cleveland,
OH, at Padua High School for 13 years. He was also on the
Administrative Team at Trinity High School for 2 years.
Regarding Jose Silva, Rex Stanford says, "Perhaps no other
large organization makes such a direct claim to ESP training
as Silva Mind Control. The training generally takes 48
hours, culminating in a weekend intensive, and one
"graduates" by ostensibly passing an ESP test which involves
diagnosing the personality and medical condition of an
unknown individual. Hundreds of thousands of individuals
have taken this training and readily offer testimony as to
its effectiveness.
"The training involves basic exercises in concentration,
relaxation and visualization. The experience, while intense,
is said to be rather pleasant. The techniques begin with
simple exercises in visual imagination. Students begin by
imagining the details of their own homes. Students are asked
to actually feel the objects in the house, and also to cause
their colors to change. In the next session students
mentally project themselves into cubes or cylinders of
various metals. Then students project themselves into
various plants. Then the projection of the mind is into a
pet animal, examining each part of the body individually.
From this follows the graduation exercise of doing a psychic
diagnosis on a human being."
This is exactly what Justin Belitz teaches in Catholic
parishes. Naturally, one also has to question the parish
priests and bishops that allow this man to violate the faith
of their parishioners.
Fr. Justin
Belitz teaches these methods to Catholics and he has the
blatant gall to call these little psychic reading circles,
"prayer groups."

This
is a promotional photograph for the Silva Method of
Success in Australia.
|
In
these so-called prayer groups, people are taught
yoga meditation as the primary source of
trance. This is in order to project and read
another person's psyche, as did Edgar Cayce, who
entered into yogic trances to consult the Karmic
Records and projected himself into another person's
body and mind to find cures.
Edgar Cayce, known as The Sleeping Prophet, was an
American reputed to have had psychic abilities.
He is claimed to have demonstrated an ability
to channel answers to questions on subjects such as
health or Atlantis, while in a self-induced trance.
Though Cayce considered himself a devout Christian
and lived before the emergence of the New Age
movement, some believe he is the founder of the
movement and was influential on its teachings.
|
Cayce became an American celebrity towards the end of his
life, and the publicity given to his prophecies has
overshadowed what to him were usually considered the more
important parts of his work, such as healing (the vast
majority of his readings were given for people who were
sick) and theology (Cayce being a lifelong, devout
member of the Disciples of Christ). Skeptics challenge
the claim that Cayce demonstrated psychic abilities, and
conventional Christians also question his unorthodox answers
on religious matters (such as reincarnation and Akashic
records). He may have been the source for the idea that
California would fall into the Pacific ocean (though he
never said exactly this).
Today there are tens of thousands of Cayce students.
Most are located in the United States and Canada, but Edgar
Cayce Centers are now found in 25 other countries. The
Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE),
headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, is the major
organization promoting interest in Cayce.
(Wikipedia)
Like Cayce, Belitz et al, also profess to be devout
Christians. However, I do not know of Belitz claiming
any direct connection with Cayce, but by comparison, it is
exactly the same thing, and so it is with the Justin
Belitz pseudo prayer groups. This method of psychic
invasion is the same Kything
technique used in the Enneagram to connect to another's
spirit to draw on their so-called gifts. A close look will
establish the link between Catholic priests; Mane, Freeman,
Rhor, Johnson, Belitz, Merton and many others. All their
methods and programs seem different, but in fact, they are
not. Yoga, Visualization and Mantras seem to be the chosen
occult method of meditation to achieve their New Age
agendas.
(Stanford 1976) "The philosophy of this training is
couched in psychophysiological jargon relating to EEG brain
waves. Students are told to enter into an "alpha level"
where they can contact their inner mental resources. The use
of this terminology has been highly criticized as inaccurate
and even antiscientific.
The Silva
Method causes paranoid
states.
(1976) makes the following comments: "Granted the
inability of the typical student to adequately evaluate the
parapsychological outcome of his training, granted the
high-powered salesmanship, the morale-boosting atmosphere,
and that the student has paid a considerable sum for such a
course, it is little wonder that many persons leave the
course feeling it has been a success. They graduate
believing themselves capable of using ESP and other psychic
powers consciously and reliably.
Stanford adds, that in his experience, many individuals who
have taken the mind control courses retain an objective
perspective on what happened to them in the course and on
what has been the long-term result. However, he maintains
that a certain proportion of individuals "emerge with
ideas which would normally be regarded as paranoid in
character regarding their psychic ability to manipulate
other people."
(Stanford,
R.A. Scientific, ethical and clinical problems in the
"training" of psi ability. Paper presented at the symposium
on the Application and Misapplication of Findings in
Parapsychology, American Academy for the Advancement of
Science annual meeting, New York City, January, 1975. In
R.A. White (Ed.), Surveys in Parapsychology. Metuchen, N.J.:
Scarecrow Press, 1976.)
Eddie
Russell FMI; Catholic Record Newspaper
2003:
"Justin Belitz' web site says he holds an Honorary
Doctorate of Philosophy of Metaphysics from the American
National Institute of Psychical Research for his outstanding
programs in the study and practice of Metaphysics. He is
also a distinguished and award winning Silva Mind
Development instructor."
Unlike the original Aristotelian sense, this is Alchemy
fundamental to New Age Consciousness. Alchemy attempts to
change the physical at a subatomic level, as well as psychic
and spiritual principles to re-create a Pre-Fall Adamic
State denying Original Sin and God's salvific plan in Jesus
Christ. New Age Spirituality is a Theosophical view of God
and Man to cause a change of consciousness establishing a
new reality of a holistic, humanist one-world-religion and
universal spirituality.
Shamanist witchcraft, Yoga, visualization, breathing
techniques and mantras are basic elements in achieving this.
The Sanskrit word Mantra means, Magical Incantation and
embodies a *deity. Based on the vibration of the breath and
mantra it attempts change in the meditator at a deep
subconscious level. This is fundamental to the Psychic
Projection and ESP taught by Jose Silva.
Inspired by New Ager Dr. Jerry Jampolsky MD who says he can
help you tune in to the voice of your *inner teacher,
Success: Full Living was developed from A Course in
Miracles. The problem here is that it is not the Holy Spirit
and A Course in Miracles deceptively uses Christian words to
teach sources from other religions. Now appearing in another
form it is a true Alchemy. [ology + mysticism =
occult].
Putting a Big Mac in Burger King wrapper does not make it a
Whopper. This concept of Man and God is diametrically
opposed to the Biblical revelation of the Divine Image as
well as Catholic Doctrine. It is no small matter, nor is it
irrelevant.
Changing oneself and achieving success is a good thing if it
is based on Matthew 6: 25-34 and 2 Corinthians 5:17."
In short, Fr. Justin Belitz is a dangerous man, and so
along with all the others of his ilk, I call on them all, to
repent!
Neo Paganism
and Eastern Mysticism.
|
At
times people have said that we are against Buddhists, Hindus
etc. Our answer is, "On the contrary, we are not against
anything or anyone - we are simply for Christ." In fact, we
see it valid for these people to believe in and practice
what they want and respect that.
However, we are against the false gods and the lying spirits
that hold people in superstition and bondage and believe by
revelation that Jesus Christ is The Truth that all true
religions seek. We can therefore say to the
reincarnationists, "The good news of Jesus is that you do
not have to keep dying; your karmic debt was canceled on
Calvary and the end of the never-ending cycle of
birth-death-birth-death to reach your perfection is found by
accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior in this life. By his
death and resurrection he has beaten the power of death,
forgiven your sin [or bad karma], canceled
the debt and made you acceptable to God. (Romans 8:
1-13)
When we accept Baptism we die with him and are raised with
him. Therefore, the sting of death is removed, and as a
believer in the saving Grace of Jesus Christ you will not
see death when you leave this life, but by the power of the
Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and giver of Life, you will
pass from life into everlasting life. (Romans 8:
11)
Our concerns in this article are addressed to Christians who
are compromising the Good News of Jesus Christ which we
believe is confusing the truth that he has revealed for all
people to know and accept in order to be reconciled with God
(Romans 1:16-23). Therefore we can also say to the
Neo-Pagan, "What is more important, the gift, or the giver?
Why subject yourself to the worship of the creature rather
than its creator? - It is illogical and belittling to love
the gift given by a lover more than you love your lover, and
the truth we proclaim is, God loves you." (Galatians 4:
3-7)
Letter
to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some
aspects of Christian Meditation.
|
3.
Christian prayer is always determined by the structure of
the Christian faith, in which the very truth of God and
creatures shines forth. For this reason, it is defined
properly speaking, as a personal, intimate and profound
dialogue between man and God. It expresses, therefore,
the communion of redeemed creatures with the intimate life
of the persons of the Trinity. This communion, based on
baptism and the Eucharist, source and summit of the life of
the Church, implies an attitude of conversion, a flight
from "self" to the "you" of God. Thus Christian prayer
is at the same time always authentically personal and
communitarian. It flees from impersonal techniques or
from concentrating on oneself, which can create a kind of
rut, imprisoning the person praying in a spiritual privatism
which is incapable of free openness to the transcendental
God.
Within the Church, in the legitimate search for new methods
of meditation it must always be borne in mind that
the essential element of authentic Christian prayer
is the meeting of two freedoms, the infinite freedom
of God with the finite freedom of man.
6. This is why the Church recommends the reading
of the word of God as a source of Christian prayer, and
at the same time exhorts all to discover the deep meaning of
sacred Scripture through prayer "so that a dialogue takes
place between God and man. For, 'we speak to him when we
pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles.
[Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith". Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, Prefect (Now Pope Benedict)&
Archbishop Alberto Bovone, Secretary. Oct 15th
1989].
<See
also DOMINUS IESUS
2000 and The
Latest Vatican Document on the New
Age>
Another
Christian book that I came across some years ago, would have
us believe that "Sodhana" is the way to God. The author
of this book, Fr. Anthony De Mello seems to have forgotten,
or rather, ignores the truth that there is no way to the
Father except through Jesus Christ who is the only "Way".
The fact that the picture at the top of this page was used
by someone [not Anthony de Mello] to promote
a "De Mello Weekend" is testimony enough to make my point
regarding the real influences within, and behind this kind
of syncretism and inculturation.
A Hindu ceremony begins with Suddhi
[purity]. Sodhana is a word that means
'purification'. These are vital in Hindu religious
observances; they are related to the concept saucha
which means cleanliness. The Hindu religion teaches that he
who practices this, "is qualified to witness the Self".
[d]
When you sum up de Mello's doctrine, one finds that all
religions have the same divine nature which is shared by all
human beings. De Mello holds the view that Christ's
presence in the Eucharist for example, is merely 'one' way
in which God' presence is manifest in all 'created' things.
Surely, God is omnipresent? Well yes he is, and in
him we live and move and have our being, but de Mello's view
makes God and creation equal and one. True doctrine
understands that God is separate from creation, whereas
Hinduism holds that all is god and god is all. In other
words de Mello seems to hold the classic sign of a heresy,
which is when creation is lifted to the level of God, or God
is brought down to the level of creation. Therefore God is
impersonal and Cosmic.
From the
Asian Age Newspaper:
De Mello's
books incompatible with faith, says
Vatican.
Vatican
City: With
the approval of Pope Paul II, a Vatican commission has
denounced some writings by Anthony De Mello, a widely
selling Indian-born Jesuit author, as incompatible with
Roman Catholic faith.
In the latest move by the Vatican's watchdogs to crack down
on doctrinal unorthodoxy, the congregation for the doctrine
of faith concluded that while some early books by the
priest, who died in 1987, contained "valid elements of
oriental wisdom" there were "many dangers" in his body of
work. Already in certain passages in these early works and
to a greater degree in his later publications, one notices a
progressive distancing from the essential contents of the
Christian faith." the congregation said. For the author, the
congregation said, "religion, including Christianity, are
one of the major obstacles to the discovery of the truth"
and "there are no objective rules of morality." Besides
warning Catholics about the "dangers" in the texts, the
congregation's conclusion also put Catholic bookstores on
guard.
[AP] Asian Age.
I
have even come across what appears to be a Christianized
version of Tantric sex called a "Radiant Heart Retreat."
This retreat is based on a book by Linda Sabbath called
"The Radiant Heart". Tantra is the Yoga of sex. Tantric Yoga
also involves black magic and the worship of the Lingnam
[Penis]. Tantric Yoga meditation is used to
release the Kundilini serpent and to open the genital
chakras. The meditators reach "Higher Consciousness" by
prolonging their orgasms together for as long as possible.
This is to be used for themselves, and as a source of
spreading love to all sentient beings. The Christianized
version uses the same techniques to "Lift Sexual Energy
Into the Heart" as the book says. The author of the book
also says, "This exercise can be dangerous and should not
be done without a competent spiritual guide. It must be done
with utmost sincerity of heart.".
How is it, I wonder, that authentic Christian prayer, as
these people claim these things to be, can be so dangerous?
If this sounds a little reactionary on my part, let me
quote from a typewritten instruction given at a workshop for
Nuns on a Radiant Heart Retreat in Perth, "....then,
looking at the drawing of the fountain, I ask
Jesus to lift my sexual energy in union with his,
to draw it into the well of 'living water' within, and, thus
transformed, allow it to gush forth from my heart
as a fountain of love for all. I continue for a
few minutes in silent contemplation of the fountain. ...".
[bold
emphasis mine]
When
questioned regarding these practices, many of these people
can become quite abusive. If they had the same attitude
towards the Holy Name of Jesus and Holy Scripture when it is
abused I would be impressed, but as it is they rudely defend
their paganism with indignation. Linda Sabbath knows what
she is doing and covers any expected criticism in her
"Acknowledgments" when she says, "This book will anger some
people who will fire all sorts of accusations at it. There
are always people who are angered by prayer, and throughout
history angry people have imprisoned, guillotined, shot and
burned to death people who refuse to stop praying. For
provoking their anger I cannot apologize.".
A Nun and female masturbation. One of the delegates
attending our Set My People on Fire Seminars said recently,
that the Nun conducting one of these retreats in Perth
sponsored by the Maranatha Institute, asked how she
masturbated. - Indicating her indignation at the question
didn't stop the Nun continuing the conversation detailing
several female masturbation techniques. - Well, I guess the
Biblical adage is true; "You will know them by their
fruits".
Yes I am angry, but not with negativity but rather with a
righteous indignation. I am also disgusted and deeply
concerned about the spiritual health of my Catholic
brethren. This is not prayer as Linda Sabbath suggests!
Energy of any sort, especially sexual, is not "prayer"
in any way shape or form. I know this because I dabbled
with Tantric Yoga before I became a Christian and I was
taught that it was related directly to the worship of the
Lingnam [penis] and the Yoni
[virgina].
As for burning and shooting, well! I've heard that argument
before from the mouths of new-agers, feminists and witches
to justify their practices. In other words Linda Sabbath is
saying that those Christians who object to her point of view
are ignorant, bigoted, pre Vatican II, living in the dark
ages, idiots and have a fascist mentality. Sadly,
neo-gnosticism is rife in the Church these days and
thousands are beguiled with the same lie and false promise
that Eve fell for in Genesis 3:1-7.
Meister
Eckhart of Hochheim
[c, 1260-c, 1329]
- The
real snake in the grass.
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The following
is drawn from the book, "Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart's
Creation Spirituality in New Translation. - Introduction and
Commentaries by Matthew Fox".
Read
it carefully and see if you can pick up the thread of this
theology in regard to the authentic mystical theology of
Avila and Saint John of the Cross that connects itself, and
manifests itself in the New Age philosophies we are dealing
with through the Christian Meditation teachings. Eckhart
seems the be the link that allows them to claim an early
Christian tradition of meditation. The Eastern connection
allows the introduction of Yoga etc. in our current
situation...
'Eckhart was condemned posthumously by a Papal Decree issued
on March 27th 1329. His profoundly, this-worldly
spirituality, went underground where it fed many of the most
significant movements of Western cultural and intellectual
history. In Germany, his disciples and brother Dominicans
Henry Suso and John Tauler drew extensively from his
thinking even after his condemnation. Nicholas of Cusa in
the 15th century commented on Meister Eckhart's works, and
Martin Luther in the 16th century, drew heavily on Eckhart
by way of John Tauler, whom, as Hoffman points out, Luther
admired unwaveringly from his youth to his final days.
Lutheran mystic Jakob Boehme [1575-1629] owed
much to Eckhart, as did the radical mystic-politician Thomas
Munzer, who was born in the same German province as both
Eckhart and Luther.
In England, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing
as well as Walter Hilton and especially Julian of Norwich,
demonstrate a significant debt to Eckhart, Fox says. The
work of the 17th century Polish mystic-poet Angelus Silesius
has been called a "seventeen-century edition of Eckhart"
and, the 14th century Flemish mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck was
influenced by him. - Fox continues, "We can be sure," says
scholar Jeanne Ancelet-Hustache, "that through the
intermediary of Flemish mystics, Eckhart's thought had
anonymously found its way even into Teresa of Avila and
saint John of the Cross"...
Modern philosophy, as represented by the 19th century
romantic idealist Friedrich Schelling and the philosopher of
'evolving spirit', Hegal, admits and indebtedness to
Eckhart. Likewise, Marxist scholars like Erich Fromm and
Ernst Bloch invoke Eckhart as a forerunner of the spirit of
Karl Marx. Fox says.
Asian scholars like Dr. D. T. Suzuki speak of the "closeness
of Meister Eckhart's way of thinking to that of Mahayanna
Buddhism, especially of Zen Buddhism" and Professor S. Ueda
in Kyoto, Japan, says that Eckhart breaks "the sound barrier
of the normal intellectual world of Christianity and thereby
enters into the world of Zen."
Catholic monk, Thomas Merton agrees, saying that, "whatever
Zen may be, however you define it, it is somehow there in
Eckhart." Fox continues, Merton confesses to having been
"entranced" by Meister Eckhart, and it can be documented
that his conversion from being a romantic, dualistic, and
Augustinian-minded monk in the 1950's to being a prophetic
Christian in the 1960's occurred while he was studying Zen
and Meister Eckhart.
Hindu scholar, Ananda Coomaraswamy compares Eckhart to
Vedantist traditions.
Quaker mystic, Rufus Jones acknowledges a debt to
Eckhart as well he should, [Matthew] Fox says. For
Quaker founder George Fox is in many ways
Eckhartian-influenced. For example, his notion of the "spark
of the soul" seems more than coincidentally like Fox's
"inner light".
Psychologist C.G. Jung confessed that Eckhart offered him
the "key" to opening the way to grasp what liberation means
in a psychological context. Jung wrote: The art of letting
things happen, action through non-action, letting go of
oneself, as taught by Meister Eckhart, became for me the key
to opening the door to the way. We must be able to let
things happen in the psyche. For us, this actually is an art
of which few people know anything. Consciousness is forever
interfering'.
To sum up Fox's attitude in defense of Eckhart and his
own doctrines in rebellion to Church teaching, the following
is again quoted from Fox.
'Creation-centered spirituality, the spiritual tradition
that is the most Jewish, the most biblical, the most
prophetic, and the most like the kind Jesus of Nazareth
preached and lived, has been almost lost in the West since
Eckhart's condemnation. In place of this spirituality of
blessing and of passing on a blessing to others by way of
justice and compassion, we have often been fed introverted,
anti-artistic, ant-intellectual, apolitical, sentimental,
dualistic, ascetic, and in many ways masochistic
spirituality parading as Christian spirituality'.
Fox has gone so far over to the other side, that when
asked what he thought was most significant regarding animals
having souls he gave a very interesting answer.
In an interview in preparation for the Kinship With All Life
Conference in San Francisco in July 2003 he said, "I think
its terribly important. I think animals have so much wisdom
to teach us at this time. Its just the wisdom that we have
been ignoring. We have a lot of knowledge, but we are low on
wisdom. A shaman I met two years ago said to me "The four
legged ones are very worried about us two legged ones, very
worried. So much so that they are having many, many
conferences about us and they have concluded that they have
to do something to help us. One thing they are going to do
is to appear more in our dreams. The other thing is just to
make themselves more visible and play a bigger role even in
our domestic lives." So I think this conference is a sign of
that. It's the humans responding to the pain and the call of
Gaia
and the creatures that we better change our ways and wake up
- get smart. So I think it's a very important conference.
I'm very much looking forward to it. I do a lot of speaking
and I must say that this conference is something I'm looking
forward to more than most."
Well, it seems that Fox by name is a Fox by nature.
Perhaps he will soon be attending four legged
conferences as the guest speaker, but then, maybe not since
they are so much wiser than we are.
As in the
days of Elijah...
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Since
Buddhism, Hinduism and the occult New Age Theosophy
have taught us how to pray by using their yoga,
meditation and mantras, I wonder how long it will
be before we teach them the Christian way of
praying, in the Spirit and using the Gift of
Tongues? One must therefore seriously ask, who is
discipling [or evangelizing] who?
If you recognize any of these words and
techniques,
then be warned, it is New Age Pantheism. Be on your
guard, there are many false prophets in the world
today and they have gained disciples even in the
Church at an alarming rate. As in the days
of Elijah who called down fire on the prophets of
Baal and destroyed their idols, so too will the
Baptism
of Fire
sift the chaff from the wheat and burn away the
dross that is corrupting the Church today. We are
called by Jesus to make disciples of the world
through "His Word" not for
us
to be discipled by "its
word".
|
Remember:
Whatever
you practice, you will ultimately
perfect.
Click Here
for authentic Catholic teachings on prayer and many other
topics.

|
No,
he is not a Hindu! This is a photograph of a
Catholic seminarian studying at a Servite Seminary
in India.
If
you thought by looking at the picture, that you
were seeing a young Hindu practicing Yoga, then I
propose to you that some things cannot be
Christianized or inculturated; These postures are
clearly visually witnessing to Hinduism and
Buddhism not Christ in spite of what Freeman, the
WCCN and other Catholics who practice these
meditation techniques might tell you. (From the
Servite's Book about their Order)
|
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Read 2 Peter 2: 1-3. & 17, 22. - 1Timothy 4: 1, 2. - 2
Thessalonians ff.] annotations [a] to
[i] para, from "Death of a Guru" by Rabindranath R.
Maharaj, pages 212 - 214. Published by Holman Bible
Publishers Nashville. - annotations [j] from "Inward
Stillness" by George A. Malony, S.J. pages 40-41 &
218-219. Published by Dimension Books Denville, New Jersey
07834. - Other research material - "The Paganisation of the
Church in India" Victor J.F. Kulanday, Second Revised
Edition published at "Galilee" Madras, India. - "The Radiant
Heart" by Linda Sabbath with Introduction by Fr. George A.
Maloney S.J. Dimension Books, Inc. "The Shadow of the Dalai
Lama; Sexuality, Magic and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism"
Translated by Mark Penny. "Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart's
Creation Spirituality in New Translation Introduction and
Commentaries by Matthew
Fox."
What
is authentic Christian
Meditation?
The
Latest Vatican Document on the New
Age
GAIA
- The new god of the earth:
UNESCO's
Division of Philosophy and Ethics in 1999 looks at the new
secular global religion and ethics.
The
Enneagram: Is
it really prayer, necromancy or just damn good
marketing?
How can I help
to stop these practices in the
Church?
1: Send a short but polite and respectful letter to your
Bishop outlining your concerns. You can print off this
articles and send it with your letter if you think that
might assist you.
2: Email
this page to a friend
and ask them to do the same.
3: Before 1 & 2, pray.
4: Now you know, pray each day for God to
intervene.
spiritdaily.org
is a site that crusades against spiritual corruption in the
Church.
Tantric
Sex - An
Orthodox View.
FLAME
REVIVAL NEWS ONLINE
- THE BAPTISM OF FIRE: UGANDA, AMERICA, PORTUGAL, ENGLAND,
AUSTRALIA, MEXICO, SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA - NEWS AND
PHOTOS OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE SPIRIT EVEN AS WE
SPEAK.

|
Set
My People on Fire
A
small movie with a big
vision.
By Eddie Russell FMI about Flame Ministries Revival
Missions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
England, Scotland, USA, Mexico, Uganda, Portugal
and Australia. It contains an audio voice-over of
the Set My People on Fire prophecy; the vision that
inspired it all.
Music Track; The Rest of My Life by Patrick Carre
FMI from the My Word the Message Album.

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YouTube
Channel
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