"Religion and culture are ever changing, ever transforming. . . . We are the transformer, maker and creator of our own religious and cultural traditions."[1] "Women, Religion, and Culture" seminar, Beijing Conference

" . . human culture will change in the next millennium as a result of conscious evolution."[2] James Redfield, Celestine Prophecy

"He has put eternity in their hearts."Ecclesiastes 3:11

Do you go to church back home?" I asked Karin in her native Norwegian. The blond, blue-eyed exchange-student was visiting our church, and I had enjoyed catching up on the latest news about Norway. But now it was time to move on to my special assignment. Since her host family found it difficult to communicate with her about spiritual things in English, they had asked me to find out whether she was a Christian or not.

"No," she answered.

"Are there many Christians in your school?"

"There are some who go to church at Christmas or Easter."

"That sounds like me, back when I lived there. We only went to church on Christmas Eve, and no one took it very seriously. But now I am more interested in spiritual things. I keep wondering how people who don't know God face things like cancer and death? Do you ever wonder what will happen to you when you die?

"I'll go to some sort of heaven. I'm a nice person."

"How do you know you're nice enough? Who sets the standard for the niceness needed to get into heaven?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably God."

Sensing both disinterest and annoyance, I quickly brought the conversation back inside the boundaries of her comfort zone.

Did Karin's reasoning sound familiar? It did to me. She admitted that God might set the standards, but she doesn't know Him, so she simply imagines what He wants. In other words, she sets her own standards.

This new-paradigm thinking is changing people everywhere. Karin believes there will be a heavennot because God says so, but because it comforts her and hides the finality of death. Why throw out a good idea? But her view of heaven is little more than a pie-in-the-sky hope. Like most people today, she has no firm basis for questioning the exciting New Age pieces of the puzzle she calls heaven.

A New kind of Heaven

You met Barbara Marx Hubbard, president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, in chapter 5. When she spoke at the Renaissance of Christian Spirituality conference in San Francisco, some of her followers urged me to buy her book Revelation which was dictated by a spirit "voice" called "Christ." I bought it, and shuddered as I read her occult interpretations of God's book of Revelation. Those who know God's Word would notice its eerie likeness to God's original message. Those who don't know the Biblical version could easily think this is it.

"Now you see through a glass darkly," wrote Mrs. Hubbard, twisting biblical truth into a confusing mish-mash of occult ideas. "Soon you will see face to face. Now your are in pain. Then you will be in joy. Now you fear that you cannot manage a complex planetary system. Soon you will know that the planetary system is guided by a cosmic template. . . . A New Heaven and a New Earth shall you create."[3]

Heaven, she continues, "is but the next stage of your development, with many more to come."[4]

Since the "voice" first spoke to Barbara Marx Hubbard in 1980, it has taught her about a "collective transformation" that will take place when a "CRITICAL MASS" of "individuals align to shift the basic thought form of earth from fear and separation to unity" and thus "shift the consciousness of the earth" and lead to a new "birth."[5] If humanity cooperates with the plan, each human "mind will be consciously connected with the Mind of God."[6] Those who don't will be "selected" for destruction.[7]

Does this sound too strange to be relevant? It shouldn't. Much of this teaching is seeping into mainstream churches as well as the rest of our culture -- not because the masses are listening to Barbara Marx Hubbard, but because her source is the same as theirs. Occultism cloaked in "Christianese" has become part of our common language, challenging us to study God's Word and "test the spirits."

Listen carefully to Mrs. Hubbard's words, for Satan is counterfeiting everything that's good these days -- even good things like joy and laughter:

"An uncontrollable joy will ripple through the thinking layer of Earth. The co-creative systems, which are lying psychologically dormant in humanity will be activated. From within, all sensitive persons will feel the joy of the force, flooding their systems with love and attraction. It will be as irresistible as sex. It is supra-sex, the innate capacity to unite to create the next step of evolution..."

"As this joy flashes through the nervous systems of the most sensitive peoples on Earth, it will . . . . cause a shift in the consciousness of Earth."[8]

We should never fear genuine joy, but we need to guard against all false manifestation of spiritual power. If the "good feelings" that follow spiritual experiences don't line up with Scriptures, beware.

In other words, know the genuine truth well enough to recognize the counterfeits. The lies come in all kinds of wrappings and disguises. You may have heard of Arianna Huffington, one of the fast-rising female stars in conservative political circles and Washington society. The title of her latest book, The Fourth Instinct, refers to a spiritual force with "power to transform ourselves and our world."[10] You know she is not talking about God when she calls it "the bridge to this next stage in man's evolution and the voice calling us to cross over."[11]

"Even those who are not looking for 'a new heaven and a new earth'. . . recognize that what the millennium requires from us above all else is a psychological shift, a spiritual breakthrough,"[12] she says. The Fourth Instinct "is an evolutionary spiral based on a different set of imperatives -- for now the survival of the fittest will be the survival of the wisest."[13]

The wisest? According to whom?

Not to Christians who are still "clinging to the old"[14] world-view or paradigm which offers only "the bankrupt solutions of yesterday." They know all too well that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," for "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." (1 Corinthians 3:19-20)

Instead, Ms. Huffington urges her flock to follow a "universal force that will lead us beyond the last horizon of our known self toward a wiser, more loving, more luminous state of being."[15]

That brings us back to Barbara Marx Hubbard. "To be wise now, is to . . . . take the evolutionary perspective and see the world in process of transformation,"[16] she says. "Wisdom is to see reality, not as a static set of things, but as a . . . process leading toward godhood for humanity."[17]

Strange and mystical, isn't it? So is James Redfield's top-selling thriller, The Celestine Prophecy. It's huge readership proves the appeal of this occult message. Like Mrs. Hubbard and Mrs. Huffington, Redfield urges humanity to practice the psychic skills needed to produce a "critical" mass in order to speed our evolution. That means rejecting church leaders who block the new awareness.

When a local United Methodist church announced a weekly discussion group on the Celestine Prophecy, I decided to check it out. On my first visit, I found a group of about twenty men and women sharing their strange "coincidences", angelic visitations,[18] and other mystical experiences which supposedly led to a "conscious evolution" the focus of Barbara Marx Hubbard's message. Perhaps they believed, as Redfield promised, that they would one day transform into "pure light" and simply "walk into heaven."[19] In spite of the church setting, no one ever mentioned the likely possibility of counterfeit spirits. Apparently, the group viewed all kinds of spiritual feelings and experiences as good. Redfield's lie had become more believable

"For half a century now, a new consciousness has been entering the human world, a new awareness that can only be called transcendent, spiritual . . . .

"Once we understand. . . how to engage this allusive process and maximize its occurrence in our lives, human society will take a quantum leap into a whole new way of life . . . .

"All that any of us have to do is suspend our doubts and distractions just long enough . . . and miraculously, this reality can be our own.[20]

During the last Celestine Prophecy session, the teacher told us that we were close to becoming the "critical mass" of evolving minds that would catapult us into the next stage of "our" spiritual evolution. There we would accelerate the pace of our evolution and voluntarily limit reproduction and consumption. "Whole groups of people who have reached a certain level [would] become invisible, and the barrier between this life and the other world" would begin to crumble.

"Would we still have criminals?" asked a woman.

"There would be no need to steal, for all have the same values," answered the teacher. "We're moving toward heaven, a state of being where people are valued for their essence. . . . Fundamentalist people live . . . in a state of fear. . . . But someone who is truly spiritual, is serene. She lives in a state of grace."

"My sister-in law is like that," said another women. "She is wonderful. Always in that state of serenity, even when things get really hard."

"What does she believe?" asked the leader.

"In God. In Jesus Christ. She hurts a lot, but she has perfect peace."

The leader changed the subject.

The Sin of Separation

Did you ever read Aldous Huxley's futuristic classic, Brave New World? If you did, you may remember the occult ritual used to enforce planetary peace and oneness. No one could escape the hypnotic drills that quenched individualism and raised group consciousness: "The group was now complete, the solidarity circle perfect... Twelve of them ready to be made one, waiting to come together, to be fused, to lose their twelve separate identities in a larger being."[21]

Huxley's Brave New World carried a warning that few have taken seriously. Today many of its scary ideas are more pervasive than when Huxley first suggested them -- not because his voice sang louder than others, but because so many others sang in the same choir. Since their message fit both current trends and academic liberalism, it began to resonate through our educational institutions at every level. Today, it's preparing a new generation for social revolution, and radical feminists want girls to lead the way.

United Nations leader Robert Muller may not care which sex leads the revolution as long as Huxley's unity becomes global reality. "Conflicts will diminish as our global, universal, spiritual and cosmic awareness increase,"[22] he assures us. Ripe for change, many are listening. The fact that Mullers mystical unity matches the spiritual evolution taught by Barbara Marx Hubbard, Arianna Huffington, and James Redfield multiplies the influence of all four.

Muller is no small player in the global transformation. As the former under-Secretary of the United Nations and the current Chancellor of the UN-sponsored University of Peace, he may be the world's most enthusiastic promoter of the kind of international education system outlined by the radical feminists in Beijing. His World Core Curriculum, which laid the foundation for global education in the United States and around the world, is based on the messages received from the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul, the spirit guide channeled by occultist Alice Bailey.

Does all this seen complicated? It is. I wish we could ignore these lies and occult networks. We probably could, if they weren't already transforming our churches. But since they have twisted the way Christians see God, heaven and everything else, we can't ignore them. Too many people are falling into the trap.

Another window into the widening web of globalism opened at the 1994 "Women of Vision" conference in Washington DC. The highlight of the event was the World Peace Ceremony which joined the audience of 500 women and 50 men in a universal prayer for peace. Many had tears in their eyes as they prayed to a cosmic force, not God, for universal love and forgiveness.[23]

Among the guests at the conference were Barbara Marx Hubbard, the Dalai Lama's sister Jetsun Pema, and Ann Rockefeller Roberts, president of the Fund of the Four Directions (remember all those sacred circles that honored the four directions) which helps wed the Rockefeller fortune to New Age globalism and Native American spirituality.

Robert Muller was there as well. Do you see the many mystical marriages that will help usher in the new global societythe counterfeit heaven on earth? The "Mind" behind the new global spirituality sends the same basic messages to all his ambassadors, whether they call themselves New Agers, Neopagans, or even "Christian."

The connections are important, because no single group could win the world to these new ideals. That radical feminists like Bella Abzug claim the right to speak for all the women in the world may seem absurd, but so what? She, Muller, Hubbard and all the rest are each playing their part in the globalist orchestra determined to raise global consciousness and speed the paradigm shift. They may be strangers to each other, but the evil puppeteer behind the scenes knows how to pull the strings and guide the action. That's what counts. Few realize that the angry idealism of feminist activists can be used by hard core globalist to reach a more ominous goal. As economist Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote in his review of Road to Serfdom,[24]

"Idealist socialists create systems in which idealists are almost certain to lose and be superseded by those whose drive for power, and ruthlessness in achieving it, make them the "fittest" to survive under a system where government power is the ultimate prize.... The issue is not what anyone intends but what consequences are in fact likely to follow."[25]

In other words, idealists can persuade, but they seldom rule. Idealism can awaken the masses and inspire a revolution, but it seldom governs. During the first part of the Russian revolution, ideology paved the way to change. But the manipulative power of Communist forces soon seized the victory and captured the throne.

Like the radical feminists at the Beijing Conference, Muller and other UN leaders have no tolerance for non-conformists. When speaking at some of the 1995 events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Muller shared his vision for the future: a united world where all would live in harmony sharing a common set of human rights and responsibilities. People were free to believe anything -- as long as it was pantheistic, monistic and polytheistic. Even cross-less Christianity would fit. Biblical faith would not.

When the moderator invited questions from the audience, a man stood up. The startling exchange that followed left me with an uneasy insight into a form of intolerance that is incomprehensible to most Americans. The man's two questions seemed thoughtful and legitimate by traditional Western standards. Wouldn't you agree? He asked,

"In a pluralistic world, would a centralized institution tend to become insensitive to ideas other than its own? And if the UN becomes involved in spirituality, could it cause church-state violations?

In response, an angry woman in the audience stood up and shouted, "In Oklahoma we saw the result of men who hate our central government." She stormed out of the auditorium.

Sounding just as angry, Muller leaned into the microphone and began denouncing both people and nations who oppose global controls. After venting his anger on the USA for its reluctance to show wholehearted support for UN policies, he swore and left the podium. Is this the kind of tolerance the UN touts? Could Muller be so accustomed to approval from like-minded globalists, that he can tolerate nothing less?

Persecution

Muller's hatred for those who disagree permeates the global transformation. It doesn't matter whether the occult links in this movement are called witchcraft, feminist spirituality, Native American shamanism, or simply global spirituality. All envision a world where all human minds are connected to some kind of a global mind -- a "collective unconscious," a "Global Mind," "The Mind of God," or simply the "Goddess."

Since all versions of this occult spirituality follow the same occult master, they share a common hatred for the biblical God and His truth. "The world . . . hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil,"[26] said Jesus. It hates us, for the same reason. Therefore, opposition to the cosmic plan can be costly. As Barbara Marx Hubbard warns us,

"The selection process will exclude all who are exclusive. The selection process assures that only the loving will evolve to the stage of co-creator."[27]

Those who are "loving" in Ms Hubbard's eyes will be linked to the cosmic "Mind" she follows, and it will inspire their attitudes and actions. Genuine Christians would be "selected" out of Hubbard's evolutionary scheme. It sounds like a scary fantasy, but it comes close to what God told us would happen.

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you," said Jesus, "and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake." (Matthew 24:9)

Remove the phrase "all nations", and He could have been referring to almost any time during the last two thousand years. Long ago, Roman Christians fought lions. Missionaries to Asia, Africa and South America were tortured, burned and stabbed. Untold millions were tormented and killed by Communists who rejected Christ but not impersonal psychic powers. And Nazi resistors faced the gas chambers along with the millions of Jews.

For two centuries, the spreading influence of Christianity calmed the seething hostilities of occultism, and God's people found a momentary haven. But our shelter may soon be ravaged by the coming millennial storms. "Many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another," continued Jesus. "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 24:10-13)

Endure? Where does endurance fit into the American dream? Or into contemporary church teaching? Or the feminist movement?

Endurance is almost a forgotten virtue, isn't it? Yet it's crucial to the battles ahead, whether end times are near us or still far away. Either way, it's time to prepare for radical changes. For the biblical and historical pattern shows us that when God's people or nations ignored truth, returned to paganism, and worshipped other gods, everyone suffered. With a heart that ached over the pain of His people,[28] God would pull back His hand of protection [29] and allow His people to face the terrors of life without Him -- usually droughts, famines, wars and plagues.

Eventually, the people would see what life was like without the Shepherd. The priests would roll out the dusty old Scriptures, tear their clothes in despair of their own rebellion, repent, and pray for healing. God always forgave and restored, for then as now He wants nothing more than to bless His precious people.

In spite of the glaring similarities between ancient Israel and today, there are some sobering differences. The vast communication network for occult indoctrination, the proliferation of seductive spiritual counterfeits, and our ignorance of occult dangers have set the stage for potential occult dominance that knows no precedent. In light of Biblical prophecy, could the oft-repeated cycle have become a downward spiral?

I don't know. God hasn't told us His schedule. Jesus gave us some signs to look for, but not the starting date for the tyrannical world government prophesied in Revelation 13. Only one thing is certain. The dreaded reign of the final antichrist [30] will come, but it will last only a moment in time.

"Learn this parable from the fig tree," said Jesus after telling His disciples about the false prophets, lawlessness, apostasy and persecution that would characterize the last days. "When its branch... puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the very doors... Watch therefore..." (Matthew 24:32-33, 42)

It's much easier to focus on daily needs than to look at eternal things. But God tells us to be alert and ready, not distracted from His concerns.

"As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be," said Jesus. "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.... Watch therefore..." (Matthew 24:37-39, 42)

The first lesson in watchfulness is to know and love truth. The world ruler will use all kinds of exciting miracles to prove his divine power, and most people will believe his boasts. For "the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth..." (2 Thessalonians. 2:9) Pray this will not happen to those you love!

The second lessons follows. Since those who love truth will be hated by the world, we need to fix our eyes on the eternal life that no one can ever take from us. A story I heard long ago shows the joy that comes with a heavenly focus. I may not remember the exact words, but the story goes something like this.

Back in the second century, Roman authorities told the Christian leader Polycarp to stop warning people about paganism and cease telling them the life-saving truth about Jesus Christ. He refused.

"Then we'll take all your possessions," they told him." Go ahead," he said. "My God has promised to supply all I need according to His riches in glory. He will take care of me." (Philippians 4:17-19)

"If you don't stop preaching, we'll take your wife and children and kill them," they threatened.

"You can't kill them," he answered, "for they belong to God. I will spend all eternity in heaven with them."

"Then we'll kill you."

"That would be best of all, for I would go immediately into the presence of my Lord. Nothing could be more wonderful."

Polycarp's martyrdom only magnifies the joy of His eternal perspective. His faith lives on as a rich reminder to us that when we are joined to Christ through the cross, we have an eternal treasure in heaven. That assurance doesn't diminish our present life; it makes it richer and fuller.

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain," said Paul. Living or dying, he enjoyed the privileges of citizenship in heaven. Either way he would serve the God he loved. Death would have been easier, for while he lived, he was stoned, imprisoned, chained, tortured, starved, and beaten for his faith. Yet, he radiated hope:

Heaven is Forever

What unseen things did Paul "see"? What thoughts comforted him when His body ached, his food was gone, and his friends forsook him?

Friends and food may be important, but they meant little compared to "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."[31] Nothing could weaken his confidence that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"? (Romans 8:18) Part that glory would be a whole new beautiful body in place of the old broken one:

Instead of pain and loss, there would be an inheritance -- something so wonderful and glorious that we can't even comprehend it with our present earth-bound minds. Paul saw only glimpse, but we can sense his anticipation:

"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Romans 8:16-17

Special blessings would be reserved for those who suffer for His sake.[32] Among the first in line would be those who gave their lives to do His will, but received little or no human praise for their faithfulness. In heaven, their "Father who sees in secret will reward" them with a love that far exceeds our finite understanding.[33]

While God, in His perfect justice, promises special rewards for those who gave Him their lives, all of heaven's citizens will find their "cup" of happiness overflowing. This final joy will be far deeper and fuller than all the earthly delights combined. Lacking earthly words for heavenly glories, the Bible can only use inadequate images like mansions and streets of gold to symbolize the very best the human mind can communicate. But those barely hint at the wonder and magnificence of our future home. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly...."[34]

New bodies, a new earth, no more pain, a heavenly inheritance that will last forever. . . While those promises delight my heart, they can't compare with the best of all: meeting our Bridegroom "face to face." We will stand before a wonderfully real Person, the King of the universe -- not simply an impersonal "glory" or radiating "light" as New Agers tell us. Many saints have described that heavenly moment, but no earthly words can do it justice. Paul tried: "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,"[36] he rejoiced, "and thus we shall always be with the Lord."

Do you see the contrast between the evolutionary one-world spirituality and God's unchanging heavenly realm? Unlike the new paradigm with its evolving human consciousness that absorbs human identity, the biblical truth is that we individually will spend eternity in the presence of Jesus Christ, who "is the same yesterday, today and forever."[37]

John, Jesus beloved friend and disciple, sensed how the wonder of Gods eternal nature would touch our human lives in that moment of transformation: "Beloved, now we are children of God," he began, "and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Then he nudges us to take hold of this magnificent hope and keep it as a banner in our hearts: "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (1 John 3:1-3)

This hope changes us even now. Almost imperceptibly, a new understandinga more perfect and heavenly paradigmbegins to guide our hearts. "We can't feel at home in this world any more," goes an old song, for we realize that "our citizenship is in heaven!" (Philippians 3:19-20) Like the heroes and heroines of God's hall of fame (Hebrews 11), we fix our eyes on the heavenly city that beckons to all God's sojourners. The eyes of our hearts turn to Jesus, "and the things of earth grow strangely dim."

"Face to face with Christ my Savior," sang Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer who saw eternal realities more clearly than most people with eyes that see. Her songs still encourage thousands of believers to walk with God all the way home:

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