The New Enlightenment Pt.4

Rev. 2:18-21 ~ "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."

The July 2008 issue of Charisma Magazine featured a story about Oprah Winfrey entitled "Oprah’s Strange New Gospel" by Ken Walker

In the article, Oprah, a self described "Christian Free-Thinker" is said to have reconciled her current beliefs with her Christian beliefs. She said she "took God out of the box." In the "box" were belief systems, rules and doctrines. She took God out of that box. WOW!

All this time God was waiting for Oprah to liberate HIM. More specifically, it seems as if Oprah has done what over 2000 years of some of the greatest Christian teachers in history, and in her case even Jesus himself, could not do. Get God out of that "box". Self exaltation has many forms even the form of "box openers".

Rev. 2: 22-25- "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25But that which ye have already hold fast till I come"

As bad as it may be, Oprah is not alone in her quest to help the nation arise to this New Consciousness and metaphysical mysticism that is being promoted both on her show and web-broadcasts. One of the greatest efforts to indoctrinate individuals into New Age philosophical teachings and constructs have been undertaken by corporate America and the public school systems across the country. Collectively called the "Human Potential Movement" these programs teach, and introduce the same or similar concepts to an even grater captive audience. The employees and in many cases students are sometime unwilling participants in "mandatory" seminars and classes designed to tech people how to "think positively", "reach or achieve their potential" or "reflect on yourself to create a better humanity"

These companies operate under the name of Lifespring, Krone Training, PSI World, Pecos River Institute, and The Pacific Institute, and Gentle Reminder 911. The promise is that workers will become more productive, employees will become more cheerful, and children will reach and realize their potentials and full life horizons and learn how to read and become more literate. What we find is an actual hodge-podge of spiritual eclecticism, monism, pantheism and continued resurgence of eastern metaphysical religious thought. ~ Courtesy Cult Awareness Information Center

What makes this so dangerous is that many Christian believers fail to recognize the problems associated with these type of programs and teachings. In fact, it seems that the largest group of the individuals most susceptible to the deceit is strangely enough, ministers and preachers. I’ve received calls from ministers disassociating themselves with me, others suggesting that the programs aren’t as bad as I think they are etc. Some have even tried to justify the New Enlightenment in spite of clear evidence against God and his word. This is what I call "weak leadership". Weak and self-centered leadership begets a weak, self-centered, and unprotected flock of God. Don’t be deceived because this weak leadership has all the credentials that you would think would assure clarity. They have B.Min, M.Div, MA, D.DS, PH.D, and other titles behind their name. As a Christian community this is to our utter shame.

Rom. 1:22 ~ "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,"

As indicated in The New Enlightenment Pt.1, our leaders must be challenged to repent, open their spiritual eyes, and fight the battle for Christ instead of the battle for popularity, book sales and associations.

Some examples of New Enlightenment materials making it into our communities through corporations and the educational system include material and teachings by The Pacific Institute or Seattle, WA. According to their advertisements, this self help and corporate human potential company provides services for slightly over 50% of America’s Fortune 500 Companies and a growing list of schools and private entities. Their program centers around current theories of cognitive science (CS) and cognitive psychology (CP). Their programs encourage visualization, meditation, identification of alpha states of consciousness, self talk (called affirmations), learning subjective truths and relativism. This is done in an almost occultic and extremist encouragement.

One of the Co-founders of The Pacific Institute is Mr. Lou Tice. Tice tells trainees to frequently repeat positive self-talk slogans such as "I am a super salesperson and grow every day in every way"; "If it's going to be, it's up to me"; and "Imagination times vividness equals reality on the subconscious level." According to the book ‘The New Age Movement: The Celebration Of Self’ (Paul Heelas 1996 Blackwell Publishing Pg. 63) Mr. Tice is responsible for training over 12,000 New Age facilitators. His courses, like those of Krone training, create an insider's vocabulary with key concepts and sometimes made up words such as "scotomas", "cultural trances", "flat worlds", "lock on-lock out", and "reticular activating."

One of the earlier generation corporate programs was actually called "New Age Training For Achieving Your Potential". Their current corporate program is called "Imagine 21". That same program has been revamped for the teachers and students and school districts to which they currently market their seminars and is currently commonly called "21 Keys" with a subtitle "To High Performance Learning & Success"

Here are some specific examples of elements of the program:

Pg. 37- "All that is comes from the mind; it is based on the mind, it is fashioned by the mind."
The Pali Canon, 500-250 B.C. (In Unit 5- How The Mind Works)

As if it weren’t problematic enough to be confronted with Buddahism and especially mind worship, either in the captive places of work or school (where religion is "supposedly" banned) the program goes even further by making arguments against elements of Christian religion seem normal:

Pg. 157- (regarding the problems with coercive motivation) "As a child, or maybe even as an adult, you outrun the flames of hell your whole life. You’re not trying to be good because of the right reasons to be good, you’re doing good so you don’t go to hell. That is restrictively motivating oneself."

Obviously, there could be any set of circumstance named that is known as "restrictive motivation" but in this case the course deliberately uses the Christian concept of Hell and paints a broad brush polemic against it in order to gain agreement against the concept. The greater aim is to gain agreement against Christian doctrine in general as the rest of the program displays.

Pg. 175- "What is the purpose of education? Let’s just say it’s to develop the causative power in every child. The causative power. Not positive, causative. It’s called self-efficacy."… "Efficacy, very simply means to cause, bring about or to make happen."…"Self efficacy is the appraisal of your own ability to cause or bring about or make happen what you want in your life." … "It’s your ability, your own perception of your own ability, to make something happen for yourself."

Nothing wrong with encouraging positive action, and nothing wrong with encouraging human action but the overt humanism comes directly from the Paul Kurtz’s Humanist Manifesto 2000. That goal is restated as follows:

"…The wider platform for human progress as part of a New Enlightenment needs, I submit, to advocate secularism in the above three senses:(1) the separation of religion from the state;(2) the humanization of values that satisfy the deeper interests and needs of human beings; and (3) the decline of religious practice, entailing the growth of the Human City in place of the City of God."

This next statement reveals the intents of this sort of program toward our children. Take a careful look:

Pg. 41- " The course of action I would like to encourage you to be able to translate to young people is this: it’s the quality of information that you hold here in your mind that determines your success. It isn’t luck. The locus of control is really inside of you, not outside of you. It isn’t in the stars, it isn’t in the horoscope, it isn’t so much outside as it is inside. The quality and quantity of your image of reality has a lot to do with the way your life goes."

WOW! That almost sounds right. But the "City Of God" as Paul Kurtz describes it, is systematically being replaced with the "City of Humanity". Further "the locus of control is inside of you." and the "quality and quantity of your image of reality has a lot to do with the way your life goes" These are clear declarations of metaphysical reality constructed by the mind.

Look underneath what appears to be good to see the real message…the real intent, this is what our children and teachers as subjecting themselves to…another gospel.Similar to it’s counterparts, the program promotes a metaphysical or "reality altering" view of visualization. There is however a method which is supposed to be the best way to get the best results. The program has redefined it’s own terms as follows:

Assimilation: Pulling ideas into the subconscious realm of our cognitive process therefore making new visions a part of our lives. After a student or teacher is encouraged to make a written "affirmation" which is problematic in and of itself, they are further encouraged to:

1-Read the words
2- Visualize or picture it
3- Feel the emotion
According to the material 21 Keys Pg. 103 –104 These things are known as the keys to proper Assimilation. When this is done your reality will begin to change on "the subconscious level"

Visualizations: To recall of form mental images from the imagination; to make perceptive to the mind; forethought; mental stimulation. Creative visualization is often a means of unblocking or dissolving barriers that we ourselves have created.

Meditation and Visualization according to occultists, this is a shortcut to unlocking all the mysteries of mysticism. In the 21 Keys program visualization is a major emphasis.

"You can teach your kids to stretch their comfort zones with visualization. That’s what we make affirmations for, to stretch our comfort zones. Have your students practice in their minds before they go to their next class. You’re going to be so good at this. You’re going to have them practice before they take the test, you’re going to have them practice before they get the play, you’re going to have them practice before they need to go someplace that’s new or fearful to them. You’re going to be good at this and so will all your students." 21 Keys Pg. 115

As mentioned this technique is a staple of most all New Age and occultic philosophical concepts. It attaches our emotions to couple it with the success and achievement of children. That’s the hook, create emotional attachment, call it "positive thinking" and slide in metaphysical elements to achieve the goal.

Affirmations: Usually found in religious materials and circles, the Pacific Institute has redefined affirmations as follows for this program:

"A cognitive act that establishes a specific course, direction, outcome or state of being for the future; a confirmation or ratification of a truth. Affirmations are written and spoken in the first person, present verb tense to emphasize their attainability."

What is "affirmed" is the belief in "self" or "self capability". In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with anyone being encouraged to increase their self-confidence, however, this program moves beyond mere self-confidence into a redefinition of values and "truths".

Challenge Of Truth…Don’t Worry, They’ll Redefine It For You.

Upon closer examination PI’s definition of Affirmation is in part, "a confirmation or ratification of a truth" PI holds that all truth is relative to our preconceived notions, perceptions, belief systems and are therefore non-static and expendable:

"We are acting in accordance with the truth as we believe it; that’s the whole premise of this curriculum. We behave not in accordance with the truth as it really is, but what we believe it to be. If it’s not the truth, it doesn’t make any difference; we’re limited by it. We’re limited by our beliefs." 21 Keys Workbook Pg. AJ 41

This type of teaching holds that all prior beliefs or "truths" as we know them, are incompatible to future growth and development:

"Is your belief level really the truth? If you’re still stuck with a belief from your youth, even though it’s not the truth, it affects your behavior as an adult."21 Keys Pg. 47- (Unit 6 "The Truth as I know it")

"I want to give you a principle. The principle very simply, is that human beings behave and act not in accordance with the truth, but the truth as we believe it to be."…Once you get a belief in your mind, which is called conditioning, it affects the way you view the world. It affects what you see and don’t see." 21 Keys Pg. 5

Look at this type of gnosis (mystical knowledge) that the program encourages:

In 21 Key Unit 4 ‘Filtering My Thoughts’ a modified form of critical assessment is encouraged and strangely similar to information gathering in many modern cultic philosophies:

"When you know this you can set magnificent goals because you don’t need to know where the resources are or where the information is coming from when you set the goal. You don’t need to know, you just need to know that you can know. You set the goal then you find the information you need." 21 Keys Pg. 32

The 21 Keys Program as well as it's counterpart Imagine 21 encourages teachers to learn how to experience and teach subconscious psychomanipulation using the psychotechnologies contained within the program:

"The best time to affirm is when you’re in what is called the alpha state, or the daydreaming state. You’re naturally at the daydreaming state just before you fall asleep at night, and usually just upon awakening. Your subconscious is much more receptive to your affirmation in this state."21 Keys Pg. 104-105

Finally, another of the most popular concepts in the course centers on the ability if the individuals to use their imagination to create reality "on the subconsciousness level" Look at this:

I x V = R or "- I = imagination, V = vividness and R = reality or I x V = R. "So vividness means any time we get a clear picture with emotion and have it repeated, it becomes reality on the subconscious level." 21 Keys Pg. 65

This is just one popular program that introduces Eastern religion, redefines truth and moral values, teaches visualization and metaphysical reality, the identification of altered states of consciousness and is designed to retrain teachers so that they can retrain their students who happen to be….OUR children.

I had my fight and answered the call of God against much criticism. Go here to see for yourself. Be careful because these sort of teachings could be coming to your city soon, If it’s not already there.

Rev. 2:26-29 ~ "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28And I will give him the morning star. 29He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

Stay tuned for Pt. 5 where we discuss Gentle Reminder 911, the "May You Be Blessed Movie" and providing an update on the Oprah Cult watch.

Blessed!