Excellent and informative article Jim. I my younger years I experimented with some alternative religions . That journey led me right back to Christ. I understand curiosity about new and different things and ideas, God gives us free will to explore them. Just be aware of the pitfalls along the way, there are many.
Anytime the body of Christ get slack in their stance for God's righteousness and holiness, we have what we have. Thank God for the remnant that has always stood strong and is still standing strong, not in religion but in the rightly divided Word of God.
Nov 18, 2023·edited Nov 18, 2023Liked by Jim McCraigh
As usual, great essay. Here is a similar essay I did on this subject in 2022 from a slightly different perspective. Looking forward to your future essays.
You are an excellent writer, but I question your research. I am currently reading Blavatsky's ISIS UNVEILED and she debunks those phony "spiritualists" who made tables rise and who mechanically caused things to move around rooms during fake seances. Years before Helena Blavatsky hit the scene, spiritualism (the belief that we could speak with the dead) had swept the USA like a plague and even Abraham and Mary Lincoln believed in it.
All the world's religions share similar creation myths and the values of all (with the exception of Mohammedanism) are strikingly similar.
It was inevitable that a wealthy genius like Blavatsky would come away from Tibet as a Buddhist and that she would drift towards a universal understanding of the universe.
While I accept Jesus Christ as my savior, it wouldn't change my life in any way if I died and became pure spirit.
Excellent point Charles... You are correct, Blavatsky was indeed a woman of contradiction. While she disparaged others like herself, she promoted her own brand of essentially the same thing. What made her different was the remarkable amount of influence she had on others, particularly Alice Bailey who promoted New Age religion and the Age of Aquarius!
For sure influential personalities who introduced "ideas" that are so widespread today that they seem to have become commonplace. And who contributed to the spread of a certain levity in the use of both spiritism and demonism. Interesting article, thanks.
Jesus rebuked and removed demons. There are many documented reports of exorcisms and I believe we are surrounded by demons and angels. The belief in demons is not the same as worshipping them.
I agree, Charles, I also believe in Christ and grace. My point was that, unfortunately, many of those who approach demons do not realize the danger and experience their relationship with spiritism as a normal thing.
When I first began meditating (after reading Maxwell Maltz' PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS), I threw myself into it like a fanatic. Back then, fundamentalist Christians typically warned that yoga was satanic and that meditation could (and would) allow evil spirits to take over my mind.
Mme. Blavatsky's 1877 book warns of the dangers inherent in separating the astral body from the physical.
I do not deny there is danger in exploring the unknown. On the other hand, I agree completely with Ivan Antic (a Serbian monk) that consciousness = reality.
We are created as Spirit Beings (e.g. "in the image of god") and we owe it to ourselves to explore the actual reality of the universe. Quantum physics is proving Antic's theories.
Excellent and informative article Jim. I my younger years I experimented with some alternative religions . That journey led me right back to Christ. I understand curiosity about new and different things and ideas, God gives us free will to explore them. Just be aware of the pitfalls along the way, there are many.
Anytime the body of Christ get slack in their stance for God's righteousness and holiness, we have what we have. Thank God for the remnant that has always stood strong and is still standing strong, not in religion but in the rightly divided Word of God.
As usual, great essay. Here is a similar essay I did on this subject in 2022 from a slightly different perspective. Looking forward to your future essays.
https://frederickrsmith.substack.com/p/the-age-of-aquarius-and-more
Thanks for the link. I will read it with interest!
You are an excellent writer, but I question your research. I am currently reading Blavatsky's ISIS UNVEILED and she debunks those phony "spiritualists" who made tables rise and who mechanically caused things to move around rooms during fake seances. Years before Helena Blavatsky hit the scene, spiritualism (the belief that we could speak with the dead) had swept the USA like a plague and even Abraham and Mary Lincoln believed in it.
All the world's religions share similar creation myths and the values of all (with the exception of Mohammedanism) are strikingly similar.
It was inevitable that a wealthy genius like Blavatsky would come away from Tibet as a Buddhist and that she would drift towards a universal understanding of the universe.
While I accept Jesus Christ as my savior, it wouldn't change my life in any way if I died and became pure spirit.
I look forward to your future articles.
Excellent point Charles... You are correct, Blavatsky was indeed a woman of contradiction. While she disparaged others like herself, she promoted her own brand of essentially the same thing. What made her different was the remarkable amount of influence she had on others, particularly Alice Bailey who promoted New Age religion and the Age of Aquarius!
For sure influential personalities who introduced "ideas" that are so widespread today that they seem to have become commonplace. And who contributed to the spread of a certain levity in the use of both spiritism and demonism. Interesting article, thanks.
Jesus rebuked and removed demons. There are many documented reports of exorcisms and I believe we are surrounded by demons and angels. The belief in demons is not the same as worshipping them.
I agree, Charles, I also believe in Christ and grace. My point was that, unfortunately, many of those who approach demons do not realize the danger and experience their relationship with spiritism as a normal thing.
When I first began meditating (after reading Maxwell Maltz' PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS), I threw myself into it like a fanatic. Back then, fundamentalist Christians typically warned that yoga was satanic and that meditation could (and would) allow evil spirits to take over my mind.
Mme. Blavatsky's 1877 book warns of the dangers inherent in separating the astral body from the physical.
I do not deny there is danger in exploring the unknown. On the other hand, I agree completely with Ivan Antic (a Serbian monk) that consciousness = reality.
We are created as Spirit Beings (e.g. "in the image of god") and we owe it to ourselves to explore the actual reality of the universe. Quantum physics is proving Antic's theories.
Love quantum physics!
It proves that we cannot count on anything. Somehow, that makes me feel independent.