Will
the Evangelical Church Help Usher in the
"Age of Enlightenment" and the
Coming False One?
by
Ray Yungen (The
following is an excerpt from A
Time of Departing, chapter six: "Could
This Be the End of the Age?"
In
the early twentieth century, a figure
who would have a major impact on the Western
esoteric movement came out of the occultic
Theosophical Society. The actual coining
of the very term New Age has been attributed
to her writings. Her name was Alice Ann
Bailey.
Born
Alice LaTrobe-Bateman, in Manchester,
England on June 16, 1880, she grew up
as a society girl and enjoyed all the
privileges of the British upper class.
Being very religious, Alice met and married
a man who later became an Episcopal minister.
In time, they moved to the United States.
When Alice’s husband became physically
abusive toward her, she fled from him
and settled with her three children in
Pacific Grove, California.
Alice
was greatly comforted when she met two
other English women living in Pacific
Grove. These women introduced her to theosophy,
which seemed to provide answers to her
questions concerning why such misfortune
had befallen her. Alice, then 35, was
about to have her life changed forever.
Later, in her unfinished autobiography,
she wrote:
I
discovered, first
of all, that there
is a great and divine
Plan ... I discovered,
for a second thing,
that there are Those
Who are responsible
for the working out
of that Plan and Who,
step by step and stage
by stage, have led
mankind on down the
centuries.1
In
1917, Alice moved to Los Angeles and began
working for that plan at the Theosophical
Society headquarters where she met Foster
Bailey, a man who had devoted his life
to occultism. She divorced her estranged
husband and married Bailey in 1920. Alice
had her first contact with a voice
that claimed to be a master in November
of 1919. Calling himself the Tibetan,
he wanted Alice to take dictation from
him. Concerning this, Alice wrote:
I
heard a voice which
said, "There
are some books, which
it is desired, should
be written for the
public. You can write
them. Will you do
so?"2
Alice
felt reluctant at first to take on such
an unusual endeavor, but the voice continued
urging her to write the books. At this
point in time Alice experienced a brief
period of intense anxiety in which she
feared for her health and sanity. One
of her other spirit "masters"
finally reassured her she had nothing
to fear and she would be doing a "really
valuable piece of work."3 The "valuable work" Alice was
to do ended up lasting thirty years. Between
1919 and 1949, by means of telepathic
communication, Alice Bailey wrote nineteen
books for her unseen mentor.
To
occultists, the significance of the Alice
Bailey writings has heralded anticipation
of the appearance of a World Healer and
Savior in the coming Aquarian Age (the
astrological age of enlightenment and
peace). This savior would unite all mankind
under his guidance. Bailey termed him
the coming one. This person was not to
be the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Christians
await the return, but an entirely different
individual who would embody all the great
principles of occultism, chiefly the divinity
and perfectibility of man. One of Bailey's
followers wrote:
The
reappearance of the
Avatar [world teacher],
by whatever name he
may be known, has
been prophesied in
many religions as
well as in the esoteric
[occult] tradition.
A major manifestation
is expected in connection
with the Aquarian
age.4
Interestingly,
the apostle Paul declared one called "the
man of sin, the son of perdition"
would also proclaim himself to be God
(II Thessalonians 2:3,4). I believe this
coming Aquarian messiah will be the son
of perdition spoken of by Paul in II Thessalonians.
Furthermore, I am convinced the New Age
movement is his spiritual platform. Too
many things fit together for this to be
just mere coincidence. Therefore, we must
watch for the restructuring of
our world by those who are preparing the
way for his arrival and identity to be
revealed.
Daniel
8:23 states this man will be a master
of dark sayings. In Hebrew, this translates
as one skilled in cunning and ambiguous
speech. The world will see him as one
who is distinguished and spiritually brilliant.
Keep this in mind as you read the following
description:
The
coming one will not
be Christian, a Hindu,
a Buddhist, not an
American, Jew, Italian
or Russian--his title
is not important;
he is for all humanity,
to unite all religions,
philosophies and nations.5
The only one who could bring this about
is the one who fits the description mentioned
in Daniel. This explains the all-out effort
by the New Age, which is saturating our
society with meditation right now. When
this man comes forward, all those who
are in touch with their higher self, those
who are awakened will clearly recognize
him as their unifier and give him their
allegiance. He will have a ready-made
constituency (many in key positions) to
help him reconstruct society. This will
be the final culmination of the paradigm
shift.
A
disciple of the Indian guru Rajneesh made
this keen observation, illustrating the
potential power of this deception and
the hypnotic influence of this "coming
one":
Something
had happened to Rajneesh
that made him unlike
other men. He had
undergone some change--enlightenment,
the rising of kundalini
[serpent power]--and
his being had been
altered in palpable
[noticeable] ways.
The change in him
in turn affected his
sannyasins [disciples]
and created a persistent
and catalyzing resonance
between them.6
What
was the nature of the resonance? The Bible
predicts the Antichrist and the false
prophet will perform lying wonders (Revelation
13). Alice Bailey described the work of
her New Age Christ very explicitly:
The
work of the Christ (two thousand years
ago) was to proclaim certain great possibilities
and the existence of great powers. His
work when He reappears will be to prove
the fact of these possibilities and
to reveal the true nature and potency
of man.7
In
light of the many who will be coming in
Christ's name, I also believe the Alice
Bailey prophecies can provide further
insight into what the apostle Paul called
in II Thessalonians the falling away.
Bailey eagerly foretold of what she termed
"the regeneration of the churches."8
Her rationale for this was obvious:
The
Christian church in its many branches
can serve as a St. John the Baptist,
as a voice crying in the wilderness,
and as a nucleus through which world
illumination may be accomplished.9
In
other words, instead of opposing Christianity,
the occult would capture and blend itself
with Christianity and then use it as its
primary vehicle for spreading and instilling
New Age consciousness! The various churches
would still have their outer trappings
of Christianity and still use much of
the same lingo. If asked certain questions
about traditional Christian doctrine,
the same answers would be given. But it
would all be on the outside; on the inside
a contemplative spirituality would be
drawing in those open to it.
In
wide segments of Christendom this has
indeed already occurred.... Thomas Keating
alone taught 31,000 people mystical prayer
in one year. People are responding to
this in large numbers because it has the
external appearance of Christianity but
in truth, is the diametric opposite--what
a skillful spiritual delusion! Could this
possibly be the falling away Paul speaks
of?
Note
this departure is tied in with the revelation
of the "man of sin." If he is
indeed Bailey's "coming one,"
then both Paul's prophecy and Bailey's
prophecy fit together perfectly--but indisputably
from opposite camps and perspectives.
This
is very logical when one sees, as Paul
proclaimed, that they will fall away to
"the mystery of iniquity" (II
Thessalonians 2:7). The word mystery in
Greek, when used in the context of evil
(iniquity), means hidden or occult!
Could
this revitalization of Christendom fit
in with Bailey's "new and vital world
religion"--a religion that would
be the cornerstone of the New Age? Such
a religion would be the spiritual platform
for the New Age "coming one."
This unity of spiritual thought would
not be a single one-world denomination
but would have a unity-in-diversity, multicultural,
interfaith, ecumenical agenda. Thomas
Merton made a direct reference to this
at a spiritual summit conference in Calcutta,
India when he told Hindus and Buddhists,
"We are already one, but we imagine,
we are not. What we have to recover is
our original unity."
Satan's
plan has always been to deceive people
into believing they can become like God,
and God has given Satan the freedom to
carry out his diabolical plans, with certain
powers to recruit humans in attempting
to complete it. While Scripture clearly
tells us that Satan is the father of lies,
it is not inconceivable that Satan would
reveal these things to whomever he wishes
for the purpose of attaining his goals.
I believe Alice Bailey may be one of those
through whom he chose to lay out his master
plans. Therefore, Bailey's predictions
could indeed be more than just the fanciful
meanderings of an overactive imagination.
When the depth and intricate detail of
her work is studied, it cannot be dismissed
as trivial. One author made the following
keen observation regarding this point:
Alice
Bailey's gigantic corpus of wisdom could
not have been invented by human minds;
the teachings are undoubtedly superhuman
in origin.10
In
a manner of speaking, I consider Alice
Bailey as an apostle of New Age occultism,
and her writings as mystical revelations.
She is telling the world the path it will
be taking and how it is going to be done--in
essence, a combined manifesto and blueprint.
The fact that much of what she predicted
has indeed actually happened gives even
greater credence that her work really
could be the design for the one Paul called
"the son of perdition."
Various
church statements reflect Bailey's dark
prophecies that speak to the "revitalization"
of the churches. Even now a recent Catholic
dictionary states: "Current ideas
about mysticism underscore that it is
for the many, not just a chosen few."11
An article in America, a national
Catholic magazine, shows the result of
this mysticism in regard to evangelization.
The article, titled Rethinking Mission
in India, states the spirit is active
in Hinduism as much as Christianity and
therefore both religions "are co-pilgrims
on the way to fulfillment." 12
The significance of this is clearly
revealed in the following view from the
same article:
Any
claims to superiority
are damaging. Religions
need not be compared.
All we are expected
to do is to serve
man by revealing to
him the love of God
made manifest in Jesus
Christ.13
What
is happening here is a complete turnaround
regarding the meaning of evangelization.
In truth, if you want to reveal to man
the love of God, made manifest in Jesus
Christ, you proclaim the blood of Christ
for salvation!
Notes:
1.Harold
Belyoz, Three Remarkable Women (Flagstaff,
AZ: Altai Pub., 1986), p. 207.
2.
Ibid., p. 210.
3.
Ibid., p. 217.
4.
Simons Roof, About the Aquarian Age (The
Mountain School for Esoteric Studies,
1971), p. 7.
5.
John Davis and Naomi Rice, Messiah and
the Second Coming (Wyoming, MI: Coptic
Press, 1982), p. 150.
6.
James S. Gordon, The Golden Guru: The
Strange Journey of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
(Lexington, MA: The Stephen Green Press,
1987), p. 236.
7.
Alice Bailey, The Reappearance of the
Christ (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co.,
4th Printing, 1962), p. 124.
8.
Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity (New
York, NY: Lucis Publishing, 1993), p.
152.
9.
Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the
Hierarchy (New York, NY: Lucis Publisihing,
1976), p. 510.
10.Richard
Kirby, The Mission of Mysticism, op, cit.,
p. 85.
11.Reynolds
R. Ekstrom, New Concise Catholic Dictionary
(Mystic, CT: Twenty-third Publications/Bayard,
1995).
12.
Janina Gomes "Rethinking Mission in India"
(America, Nov. 12, 2001), p. 12.
