Foreword
I assume you have read the previous parts of "Serving idols," because we are building on that now. This can get exciting when we are confronted with concrete examples. You may then come across statements here with which you disagree. Unfortunately, I cannot prevent that. But it would be a shame if you were to drop out. Hence my appeal to control your initial reactions somewhat and be prepared to investigate further and think it through.
Let it be said again, that it is not the intention to hurt or belittle individuals, organizations or movements.
Idolatry in Christianity from the Beginning
During the apostles' time, idolatry already penetrated the Church. In response to questions about it, Paul in the 1st letter to Corinth holds an entire treatise on that subject (chapters 8-11). John as the last living apostle writes about it in his 1st letter: "Children, beware of idols" (1 John 5:21). References to idolatrous practices and teachings can also be found in other letters of the apostles.
When it comes to the big picture, it is good to distinguish 3 main streams within and partly just outside the official church, which are still very much alive today. Moreover, this makes it a little easier, since there is "nothing new under the sun. These streams are:
- the way of gnosticism
- the way of spirituality
- the way of the charismata
We will briefly mention some characteristics here. If you have read the previous volume "How Men Approach Their Gods" you will recognize much in this, only with a Christian or semi-Christian sauce.
The Way of Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a broad range of views from the beginning of Christianity. Common is the view that man has two natures. He is human with his normal "personal consciousness. But he also has a second nature and that is his timeless, divine core. It is just unfortunate that most people do not know this. So you have to discover who you actually are, you have to discover that you are actually divine.
Those who discover this give supreme authority to their inner knowing. Outward authority of the church or the Bible is rejected. The Bible is not abolished but completely reinterpreted and explained. Thus Jesus would show us what man is like who has discovered his "true self. He has come to show us that.
The early church was based on faith and not on inner experience. Therefore, it rejected Gnosticism as heretical. It is remarkable then that the core of Gnosticism, namely "the divine within us," was nevertheless adopted rather quickly in contemplation.
The path of spirituality - contemplation
Beginning in the third century A.D., a movement began, leading from the so-called "desert fathers" through the Church of Rome with its monastic orders (monks) to the present time even into Protestantism.
The Desert Fathers were monks who went into the desert from Egypt to live in seclusion. They discover that silence, solitude and asceticism were a good breeding ground for their prayer life. What can especially be learned from them, it is said, is that in the silence you find the way to God. Without the inner silence you cannot experience God's nearness, they say.
This tradition continues to this day. When the Pope addressed Congress in New York in September 2015, he implored them to follow the path pointed out by American monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968). The contemplative path pointed out by Merton would result in dialogue and peace.
Another Gospel
Merton and also his later colleague Thomas Keating (1923) have had great influence on spiritual thinking not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in Protestant communities. With contemplation you take in a "different gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:4). From a talk titled "Contemplation as the Center of Active Life" given by Keating in 2004, we can distill what the gospel is that is being preached. This gospel boils down to the following:
- We are invited divine people to become;
- The purpose of the Gospel, the purpose of life, and indeed the purpose of everything, is focused on the unification with God;
- That divine unification is a real experience, already here on this earth; it is the one and only Christian experience;
- In having this experience we are followers of Jesuswho knew God as Father, as abba. God is in us.
- Jesus teaches us to enter into who we really are, in order to to discover our true selves and the divine indwelling, which is the source of our existence in every moment;
- You don't have to look anywhere else but in yourself. Discovering your true self becomes Salvation named. It's a process, also called 'healing' in which the so-called 'false self', which is everything that prevents you from going this way, must be released. Including especially letting go of all that you learned as a child.
- It is not necessary the Bible as (historically) reliable to continue to accept;
- You can only discover and enter this Kingdom within you through the contemplative prayer; it's the only way! The noise in the environment and the noise (of your thoughts) within you, you must leave behind in order to become one with the Father in the silence that arises. You can only approach the divine indwelling according to a certain regularity.
- This to be one with Godbeing who you are, be yourself, is the greatest gift we can give to God.
- Moreover, as humans we are all together connected; we are one and we need only discover that together we are the mystical body of Christ; The world peace depends on how many people this process of change of achieving a higher level of consciousness, going through and therefore proclaiming this gospel of the utmost importance. We cannot be happy unless everyone is saved.
- Incidentally, the necessary process of change is also offered by the spiritual traditions of other religions.
You tolerate that well
In the part of 2 Corinthians 8 (verse 4) quoted above, Paul says that the Corinthians readily accepted a different gospel, a different Jesus, and a different spirit. The same is happening today. Just look how recognizable things are in orthodox evangelical Netherlands:
- Seeking the silence of your heart, which is also often called 'praying'
- The inner experience of the supernatural; of God, Jesus or the Spirit
- Rejecting both Scripture as the authoritative and trustworthy Word of God, as well as everything you learned as a child
- The use of biblical words, but with a completely different meaning (such as 'redemption', or 'the suffering and resurrection of Christ').
- The complete lack of any idea of biblical concepts such as sin, guilt, judgment, justification and atonement.
Most important of all is the complete absence of any notion of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ! That we are sinners falling under the wrath of God and that we can only live with that holy God when we are reconciled by the blood of the Lamb of God, His Son Jesus Christ. The message of sin and repentance is no longer proclaimed.
Thus Christendom is currently being tempted from Rome to accept this other gospel.
“But I fear, lest as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so perhaps your thoughts also be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if anyone comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit from that which you have received, or another gospel which you have not received, you bear it well.” (2 Cor. 11:3-4)
The Way of the Charismata
Charismatic phenomena have always occurred on a limited scale within the Christian Church. But both the ideas and practices have always been under criticism in the official church. Around 1900 that changed. Then the "Pentecostal movement" emerged, and it has spread throughout the world in so-called "waves. Resistance to it hardly exists anymore. Indeed, many Christian communities believe that it is a must to participate in some way in this movement.
Characteristic of the charismatic movement is that after conversion a so-called “baptism in the Holy Spirit” must take place, after which one is able to use the spiritual gifts (see also here). Often speaking in tongues is seen as proof that someone has been baptized in the Spirit. There is great emphasis on the special expressions of the Spirit, such as 'speaking in tongues', but also 'healings', 'prophesying' and many other practices. The new practices are accompanied by a new and wrong interpretation of the Bible.
Although the contemplative way and the charismatic way differ from each other, the first is more focused on the inner and the second more on the outer manifestations, there are also similarities. Both attach great importance to experiencing (of God or of the Spirit) and with both new (wrong) teachings are attached to it.
Enough books have been published in which the charismatic teachings and practices from the Bible are refuted. We are not going to repeat the things mentioned there here.
We do make a few observations about "the way of the charismata" from the perspective of idolatry.
Charismatic = idolatry
We saw earlier that "seeking God experiences" is called "idolatry" by the Bible. That is when we seek to experience (something of) God or the Spirit. In the charismatic world, this involves external phenomena. Wanting to experience God's Spirit is 'seeking fellowship with demons' and then its manifestations are also of demonic origin.
Tongues are not from God
The God of the Bible is the God of the Word. He gave us language so that we could communicate with Him and with each other. Words that have meaning. Then it is really inconceivable that the incomprehensible gibberish comes from God, even though the man who produces it has a fantastic feeling about it. Our God does not act like this and it is clear that the origin of the gibberish is demonic.
Indeed, one of the characteristics of the work of Satan and his demons is, emptiness, "words" without meaning, chaos. This is typically what happens in so-called tongues.
This is clearly contrary to the languages spoken by the disciples on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on all who believed. Those were languages that could be understood by others, with words that had meaning. That's how the God of the Bible speaks!
Finally
On Lucepedia (of the Tilburg University) the following is stated: “After the Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostalism is the largest Christian movement worldwide with approximately 600 million followers”. How incredibly sad it is that Christendom today is dominated worldwide by these two schools of thought, which are called 'Christian', but are actually pagan and idolatrous.
More on the way of the contemplation.
More on the way of the charismata.
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