Well certainly that would be Satan's plan. But he is not stronger than Christ.... And so I do not believe this counter-conversion can achieve the critical mass necessary for a spiritual transformation essentially premised in a Lie, the sole purpose of which is to efface the Image of God in the world....
Dear sister in Christ, you deal with a lot of "dark" material, RE: the so-called "new spirituality" movements. Every one of them denies and rejects Christ.
And so, as far as I am concerned, they are "works" of the Great Deceiver, the Father of Lies.
I had an up-close-and-personal contact with Arcane School Theosophy a few decades back; which then progressed into contacts with Benjamin Creme's circle, which then as ever was trumpeting the imminent return of Maitreya, the "Christ," to earth.
Well, I survived all that; I came to my senses and departed from this mayhem. It was mayhem, because Creme's doctrine relentlessly marginalizes Jesus Christ, and places His Logos in some la-la land beyond human intelligibility — in a hierarchy of "hidden masters of the hierarchy" — a hierarchy fully in charge here on Earth, but also beyond our planet; beyond our solar system; beyond our galaxy; etc. What we end up with is a universe fully staffed at all levels by hierarchically-ordered "divine" administrators, who are administrating — WHAT???
That part is never articulated.
Oh, but the best thing of all is supposedly the highest ranking hierarch of all started as a poor miserable soul just like you!!! But he "spiritually trained" his soul; he had the requisite (infinite) number of "initiations." You can do this, too — if only you will try, and get yourself a guru to help you along your noble spiritual path!
It's the "all-about-meeeeeeeee" culture trying to find "spiritual meaning" without Spirit.
I am sure that Satan is very pleased when individual souls fall for this garbage.
The Holy Spirit led me out of this danger. The Light of Christ guided my path.
What really did it for me in the end was the increasingly obvious fact that most of the people I was then hanging out with were totally nutz. :^)
I just have to object to Philip Goldberg's association of this supposed "new spirituality" with the historical American "Great Awakenings." Two are of particular note: the Great Awakening of the early 18th century, which prepared the way for the American Revolution; and the Great Awakening of the 19th century, which prepared the way for the abolition of slavery. Both these Great Awakenings were about human liberty. And both culminated in bloody war.... (Final score: Christ 2, Satan 0.)
This so-called "new spirituality" has nothing to do with liberty. In effect, it holds out the promise of self-divination. One becomes enslaved to that idea.... And then seeks a "master" to guide one.
I guess this is the "ME Generation's" idea of "spirituality."
But don't let it get you down, dear sister in Christ! In your study of "darkness," do not allow yourself to be sucked into the dark undertow!
Live in Hope. Give all thanks and praise to God! Try to live in His Light and Grace and Love. Put full faith and trust in Him.
And then, leave the issue to Him.
At least, this is what I do.
In the end Satan doesn't have a chance. Do people want to go down with him?
Better I think to find a better Way....
Thank you ever so much, dear spirited irish, for your outstanding essay/post!
Applause! bttt
"....there can be a fine line between destiny and fate. Only destiny is within the realm of providence, whereas fate implies its opposite.
"Now, a universe of pure providence would be indistinguishable from a universe of pure fate, and therefore, devoid of destiny. Under a system of pure providence, only the whole system has a destiny, which is no destiny at all. This is a monist metaphysic that Obliterates the value of the unique individual.
"In a materialistic context, hard determinism reduces one to a plaything of genes, physics, and chemistry, while in a Christian context, predestination reduces one to a pray thing of God. And in an Eastern context, one is just a preything of maya. But the whole point of traditional Christian metaphysics is that time is both real and irreversible, so that true and eternally valuable novelty occurs within it.
"For this reason," as Bolton explains, "supposedly spiritual teachings for which the total system is the only real agent [i.e., monism] are only disguised expressions of Fate," and fate is not providence, let alone destiny. Predestination explains precisely nothing, but unexplains everything of concern to us. ...."
<>
"....freedom is a function of truth, and vice versa. If truth does not exist -- or, if man cannot know it -- then freedom is strictly impossible and even inconceivable.
"Conversely, because man was made to know truth, he is created to be free; or, in an even higher sense, he is created to create, which combines the most felicitous union of truth and freedom with their fair sister beauty. For the superior man, nothing should be done artlessly.
"This is not a principle that should be passed over lightly, for it is one of the keys to this whole existentialiada with free holiness on the side. For it entails its corollary: that those who embrace the Lie are not -- and cannot be -- free. Lies can only ape a facsimian of freedom, for freedom is obviously not free if it is oriented toward error.
"If you spend your life in subjugation to the Lie, you will have wasted the uppertunity of a lifetome, for you will have lived as an illiterate slave. Might as well not have been born, except at least your bad example can serve as a tutelary tale and cautionary tool for those who are tempted to believe that truth is relative or a mere cultural construct. ...
"....freedom "is a possibility which develops out of an originally unfree state" (Bolton). And unless the reality of freedom is emphasized from the outset, "most human beings will not bother to develop their natural capacities to the full" (ibid.), as we see in the Islamic world. Since they believe everything is fated by Allah, why bother trying to improve oneself?
"The same spiritual illness afflicts the left, in that their principle lie is that human beings are mere objects who react in a deterministic way to the environment around them.
"This leads logically to their theory of government, which posits a large and intrusive state to manipulate people toward its preferred ends. Of course, they never explain how the elites who determine the preferred ends are able to escape the chain of epistemological causation and freely perceive a reality unconditioned by their class-based "false consciousness."
"You don't even have to believe in free will in order to know it is real. Bolton uses the example of two people, one of whom believes in free will, the other of whom does not. As a consequence of believing in it, the person will conduct himself quite differently than the one who does not. ...."
But he is not stronger than Christ.... And so I do not believe this counter-conversion can achieve the critical mass
Spirited: No, the devil is not stronger. In fact, he must receive our Lord’s permission to ‘sift’ people as was the case with Job. The lesson being that God the Father is in control at all times, for which reason ‘fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
The point being that to the extent that man turns away from God He turns away from man until finally an unseen line is crossed at which time there’s no turning back. Voegelin made this point about Marx, describing him as ‘demonically occluded,’ meaning that God had finally and irrevocably turned away from Marx, at which time another spirit took control so to speak. Marx’s ‘free will’ was at an end. There was no chance of turning back.
Jesus described the last days as like the days of Noah, meaning that everyone but a few had turned away and been given over to another spirit, whether directly or indirectly. Hence their minds were as the mind of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor-—in tune with the devil.
This is the spiritual counter-conversion of which I wrote.
Yes it is dark, but sometimes only dark words can bring wanderers scurrying back to the Light.
This so-called "new spirituality" has nothing to do with liberty. In effect, it holds out the promise of self-divination. One becomes enslaved to that idea.... And then seeks a "master" to guide one … I guess this is the "ME Generation's" idea of "spirituality."
Beautifully said, betty. I would add that we Christians are becoming more prone to a version of this 'new spirituality', if not by embracing an entirely new spiritual label, then at least by re-defining our own.
I have recently become disenchanted with many who I see both using their Christianity in ways that are not scriptural in nature, and personally modernizing Christ's teaching to fit their 2012 world view.
Quite often of late, when discussing the state of the nation and the world with a fellow Christian, I have received the assurance that 'we need to be strong in our faith because He is in control'. That assurance would be fine but for the fact that it is too often offered as an excuse for inaction or an unwillingness to become informed and passionate for change. At least from my own personal observations, many Christians have become lazy and are choosing to use their faith as an excuse for ignorance and apathy. It is so easy to stick one's head in the sand, for the simple reason that hearing, and becoming personally concerned, about the mountain of corruption, dishonesty, and outright evil that has infiltrated the leadership of one's country is deeply unnerving. So many of our brothers and sisters are choosing not to be a part of a battle against that evil, and are instead hiding behind their faith ... as if the Lord expects nothing of us but a profession of it.
So many are also incrementally accepting that which is not acceptable to Him simply because they are being bombarded with so much unholiness that it infiltrates their perception of what is right and acceptable to Him. Goodness and evil become diluted, relative concepts rather than issues of black and white.
I actually had a conversation with a co-worker this past week regarding what this administration is doing via the Affordable Care edict directed against Catholic institutions. It has amazed me how few people seem to think this abomination is of any general importance. She, a practicing Catholic herself, actually said to me, 'The Catholic church does have to lighten up on some issues, and maybe this will help them to do so.'
The further we turn away from His word, by lazily and apathetically becoming numb to those who defile it, or by somehow attempting to serve as our own interpreter of it, and thereby declaring it changeable over time, the more we are declaring ourselves to be our own gods, capable of judging degrees of sin, determining which sins are important enough to deserve our consideration, or re-defining sin itself.
I don't stop by here much anymore, but your post reminded me why I used to feel so comfortable here. Thank you for sharing your wonderful insights. :)
~ joanie