Schori is a heretic, and as Paul feared, easily deceived.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
Muslim Priest and Buddhist Bishop-Elect Are Raising Questions About Syncretism
Found at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/marchweb-only/112-53.0.html?start=2
For years, Episcopal Church leaders have taught that God can be found in other faiths. Now some clergy are pursuing him there.
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For the pluralists, the Shema of the Jews, the Christian Creeds, the Muslim Shahada (There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet,) and the Buddhist belief that at the heart of reality there is the emptiness of Nirvana, all have their own saving power.
In an October 18, 2006, interview broadcast on NPR's "Here and Now," Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated, "Christians understand that Jesus is the route to God. That is not to say that Muslims, or Sikhs, or Jains, come to God in a radically different way. They come to God through human experience—through human experience of the divine."
Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and life for us, Canadian Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham argued in his 1997 book Mansions of the Spirit, but there are other "diverse paths to God." The Bible stands as an account of "emerging God-consciousness," he argued, but our knowledge of God is not solely confined to Scripture, as there is "a yet wider view of God's self-disclosure" through human mystical experiences.
"We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine," Jefferts Schori told Time magazine in its July 10, 2006, issue. "But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box."
Protestant and Catholic Church leaders have largely rejected these views, from the Council of Florence's 1438 declaration that there was "no salvation outside the church" to the 1974 Lausanne Declaration by evangelicals that there was "no salvation outside a personal and explicit confession of faith in Jesus Christ."
Anglican theologian J. I. Packer defended the exclusive role of Jesus in his 1994 book, Jesus Christ the Only Savior, while Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope Benedict XVI, in 1996 called this interreligious relativism "the fundamental problem of faith in our time."
In 2000, the Roman Catholic Church clarified its position in Dominus Iesus, which stated "the thesis that the revelation of Jesus Christ is of a limited, incomplete, and imperfect character, and must be completed by the revelation present in other religions, is contrary to the faith of the Church. … This position radically contradicts the affirmations of faith according to which the full and complete revelation of the salvific mystery of God is given in Jesus Christ."
"If Billy Graham or Pope Benedict" were asked the questions Episcopal leader Jefferts Schori were asked, they would respond that "Jesus is the Way, the Truth and Life," Harmon said. In a time of doctrinal confusion, "good leadership claims its particular identity from the stability of its historical faith," he argued.
"It's the leadership of this church giving up the unique claims of Christianity," Harmon said. "They act like it's Baskin-Robbins. You just choose a different flavor and everyone gets in the store."
Druid priests
The question of multiple paths leading to the divine has also been a professional question for some Episcopal clergy.
At the Episcopal Church's 2000 General Convention—the triennial meeting of its governing body—a booklet entitled Resources for Jubilee was distributed to deputies; it carried an endorsement from the convention's secretary that it could serve as a "possible source of ideas to carry with you." Enclosed in the booklet was the Summer 2000 issue of Spirituality and Health with articles promoting "witchcamps," the Wiccan "Pentacle of Iron," and a "shamanic journey into the underworld and back again" taken by an Episcopal priest with the guidance of a "raccoon spirit."
Q: For the past 2000 years up to the present day people have awaited the return of the one called Jesus as the saviour of the world. This was demonstrated recently when people of many lands took part in the 'Walk for Jesus'. You say that Jesus have returned and is now in Rome at this very time. What do you think people's reaction will be when one called Maitreya declares himself as the 'World Teacher'? Do you think people will still regard Jesus as the promised one?
A. For a time, it may well be that very orthodox Christians - in particular Fundamentalists - will reject both Maitreya and the Master Jesus, now in Rome. He has not come 'on a cloud at the end of the world' as they expect, nor does He have holes in His hands and feet. But gradually, many Christians will find it easier to accept the Master Jesus as the returned Christ (at least the name is the same) rather than Maitreya, and the Master Jesus is in charge of the Christian Church worldwide. Eventually, however, I believe that most people, Christian and otherwise, will accept that Maitreya is indeed the Christ, Messiah, Krishna - World Teacher for all.
Q. Many Christians fear that Maitreya is the anti-christ; will he be able to say or do something to assuage these fears?
A. It may well be that, for many, the acceptance of Maitreya as the Christ will be impossible in this life. For the vast majority of Christians, however, I believe that the events and experience of the Day of Declaration and His subsequent mission of salvage and teaching will remove their fears. The tree, after all, is known by its fruits.
Q: Will Maitreya be accepted by Christians?
A. Most Christians, I think, will find it easier to accept and follow the Master Jesus rather than the Lord Maitreya. Jesus 'stood in' for the Lord Maitreya. As far as Jews are concerned, the Master Jesus is the Messiah, though they have yet to recognize Him as such. He came to them, as a Jew, to end the Jewish dispensation and prepare the way for Christendom.
No-one knows for sure, but my feeling is that the vast majority of open-minded Christians will accept Maitreya and the Master Jesus, Whom they will see side-by-side. Maitreya will introduce the Master Jesus and other Masters to the world after the Day of Declaration. The Master Jesus has a special task in that He is in charge of the Christian Churches, and very many Christians will look to Him for guidance and teaching.
Q: What will happen to people who do not go along with Maitreya's teachings when He comes out?
A. There is a huge misunderstanding underlying this question.
Maitreya's teachings will be given for humanity to consider and accept or reject as people wish. No infringement of our free will will ever be made by Maitreya and His Group of Masters. Nothing will 'happen' to anyone who dislikes or disagrees with Maitreya's ideas and advice - except that they will probably hold up their own evolution by their inability to make the shift in consciousness required to share and so create justice and peace in the world.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Behold, I have told you before.
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. - Matthew 24:21-28