The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: Medley of Eastern Deviations Penetrates West

I. Grave Involvements of Variant Eastern Subtleties

Gordon Collier’s three-volume Make Your Own World (1960) illustrates even more sharply the penetration of the metaphysics and philosophies of the East into the consciousness of the West. This set emphasizes the “power within,” the divinity of man, and his Innate Immortality, along with reincarnation, Spiritualistic phenomena, and the like. CFF2 1217.1

In volume one Collier refers approvingly to certain of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s teachings as “closer to the metaphysical ideas I have presented here than any other orthodox preacher in America today.” ¹ In this initial volume there are many helpful health and success hints, principally, however, through self-help. But in volume two, after disposing of the devil by saying that Satan is simply “the sum total of the mortal minds and wills on this earth as opposed to the Will and Mind of God,” ² and making several allusions to the contributions of Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Collier launches forthrightly into a section dealing with “Cosmic Consciousness,” the “Universality of God,” and “Reincarnation,” or “The Mystery of Life’s Cycle,” ³ as stressed, for example, by the International Society of Seekers of the Truth. And it is to be noted that “Healing Through Vibration” is tied in therewith. ⁴ CFF2 1217.2

1. NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY AND UNION WITH GOD

Collier then turns unabashedly, in chapter nine, to the mysteries of the East, and presents Paramhansa Yogananda, who wrote Metaphysical Meditations, Cosmic Chants, and Whispers From Eternity. ⁵ The Yogis are discussed, and soul liberation and “divine bliss through Yoga,” and the assertion is made: “Yoga has produced, in every age in India, men who are truly free, true Yogi-Christs.” ⁶ CFF2 1218.1

Collier then cites * Swami (Master, Religious Teacher) Sivananda on “spiritual energy,” and the “Nirvikalpa,” “the state of super-consciousness,” “the Goal of life,” with “supreme peace and infinite, indestructible bliss.” Then follows Swami’s telltale statement, “The Yogic student drinks the nectar of immortality.” ⁷ And further, “Yoga is the Science that teaches the method of joining the human spirit with God.” ⁸ CFF2 1218.2

2. TIE-IN WITH ANCIENT “MASTERS” AND THEOSOPHY

Chapter ten is devoted to the Rosicrucians and the “Mysteries of the Egyptians” and the ancient wonders in which the “Old Meets the New.” ⁹ Collier says the Rosicrucians “tell us there is only a single soul in the universe, which they term the universal soul or universal consciousness of God. Each of us possesses a part of the universal soul.” Again, they believe that “the human mind can travel from the body to far-off places and witness the events happening there.” ¹⁰ CFF2 1218.3

Collier then comes, in chapter twelve, to “Astara and the New Age,” which is inseparably tied in with “Mediums and the Development of Mediumship.” ¹¹ The “Brotherhood” and “Church” of Astara is described as a “Modern Mystery School, teaching Ancient Wisdom under the direct guidance of Masters” of the spirit, using “trumpet mediumship” and trance techniques. CFF2 1218.4

Such Masters are alleged to “leave behind their physical bodies and travel in the astral to Astara.” ¹² They seek to lead souls to the “Gateway of Initiation.” Their followers are called Astrians. These include “Master Teachers” like “Rama,” from the Gobi Desert, and “Kut-Hu-Mi,” of Tibet, “who helped establish Theosophy.” ¹³ Also named are “Doctor Teachers,” and “Philosophers,” like “Pythagoras” and “Plato,” as well as “Master Jesus.” ¹⁴ is Let us pause to scrutinize Theosophy, here mentioned, and observe its characteristics and claims and its operating principles. CFF2 1219.1

3. THEOSOPHY-IMMORTALITY BY EVOLUTION THROUGH INCARNATION

It should ever be remembered that Theosophy is an esoteric religion, or philosophy, based on the claim of special occult insight into divine nature-intuitive knowledge and direct communications transmitted by mahatmas, or sages. It is of distinctly Eastern origin, and is Buddhist and Hinduistic in “theology.” It derives its teachings from the Indian sacred books. In its modern form it was founded in 1875 by Russian-born Helena Petrova Blavatsky (d. 1891), who sought out and correlated the mystic in Tibet, India, and Egypt. Her leading work, The Secret Doctrine (three volumes), is a classic among Western Theosophists. It is claimed that she had transcendent psychic powers. CFF2 1219.2

Her successor in America was Annie Ward Besant (d. 1933), who declared man to be a “spark of Divinity encased in Matter.” ¹⁵ She believed in reincarnation, wrote of the “seven planes of progression” on the way to the Happy State, and of absorption of soul and personality into the World Soul. She likewise held a pantheistic view of deity. Her views were distinctly Hinduistic and Buddhistic. CFF2 1219.3

Theosophy teaches an immortality based on evolution by reincarnation. Mrs. Besant wrote that we all have “innate Divinity... so that in time all men become Christ.” ¹⁶ The brotherhood of initiates were to be scattered all over the world-West as well as East. This is being done. The heart of Theosophy is the doctrine of Karma-the Way, or Path, toward enlightenment and emancipation. It is defined as the “cyclic process of emanation and evolving ascension,” or ascending the astral way by the aid of “secret divine wisdom.” That is Theosophy. It is clearly a grafting of pagan Eastern thought upon the West. Its international headquarters are at Adyar, India. CFF2 1220.1

4. THE “I AM” DERIVATIVE MOVEMENT

One derivative should perhaps be noted-the “I AM” movement, or emphasis, mentioned by both Collier and Spalding. It was founded by Guy W. Ballard and his wife, Edna, in 1934, through “revelations” from “Ascended Master St. Germain.” These experiences are told in a book called Unveiled Mysteries (1934). It claims the “Mighty I AM Presence” as “the source of all life and power,” made known through certain Ascended Masters, of whom “Jesus” was simply one. It is a conglomerate of Hinduism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and New Thought, and the “Great White Brotherhood” of the Himalayas. Salvation is put forth as “Ascension,” or becoming Ascended Masters. I AM stresses the Great Cosmic Being and the “god within.” CFF2 1221.1

“Decrees” directed to the Ascended Masters allegedly release forces necessary to produce the desired results. Such take the place of prayer in the “I AM” groups. After a complete round of transmigrations the devotee becomes merged with the Eternal. The movement thus derives its teachings from Theosophy and Spiritualism, and anchors its beliefs in the messages of the Mahatmas. (In 1940 the movement was indicted for mail fraud and forbidden to use the mails.) ¹⁷ Such are the gropings of restless human hearts that become susceptible to such occult mysticism. CFF2 1221.2

5. AVOWED PURPOSE IS TO PROVE SPIRITUALISM

Collier then comes, in sequence, to the important “Master Hilarion,” “this Master who [allegedly] fostered the movement of Spiritualism over a hundred years ago.” ¹⁸ In a claimed materialization, “Hilarion,” working through Astara, gave this frank statement of purpose that none can gainsay: CFF2 1221.3

“My purpose has been, for many years now, to bring to the minds of men, through the religion of Spiritualism, a greater knowledge of immortality; to prove, chiefly through psychic phenomena, the existence of other worlds around you; to prove that those who have stepped out of their physical bodies and live on in the spirit realms can return to prove the immortality of the soul.... CFF2 1221.4

“My major concern has been to prove that your immediate family lives on after the transition called death. Bringing Spiritualism into reality has been my goal.” ¹⁹ CFF2 1222.1

Hilarion declared that he devotes himself to “establishing a universal belief in psychic phenomena,” ²⁰ and designated “Robert” to “demonstrate communication with the world of spirit.” ²¹ Such language admits of no misunderstanding. Such connections and relationships are inconcealable. It is the lie of Eden boldly reasserted. It is simply unmitigated Spiritualism, which we have discussed in depth. CFF2 1222.2

6. ASTARA-BLENDING OF ALL RELIGIONS

After touching on the “mighty Law of Karma,” Collier reverts again to Master Rama, from the Gobi Desert, who declares to the Astarians: CFF2 1222.3

“Astara is a home of all religions. Holding to no exoteric dogma, Astara embraces the esoteric teachings of all religions. Astara follows after the leadership of Jesus, but pays reverent homage to the Saints of all religions.” ²² CFF2 1222.4

That specifically includes the Eastern occult. Rama also dwells on a “Yogic exercise” for “spiritual power.” Then there is Zo-Ser, of “Egyptian antiquity,” purportedly “once a ruler of Egypt,” gifted with the “powers of healing,” stressing the “Great Cosmic Sun,” ²³ with counsel to the “Disciples of the Flame.” ²⁴ And along with these are other emissaries from the “realms of spirit,” who bring “sensitized vibrations.” ²⁵ CFF2 1222.5

After a chapter (14) on “Psychiana,” the “mail-order religion,” and its “I talked with God” key phrase, founded by Frank Robinson in 1929, and boasting a phenomenal spread, ²⁶ Collier notes in chapter 15 how the late Douglas K. DeVorss (d. 1953) built up one of America’s largest “Metaphysical publishing houses,” the “largest metaphysical book wholesaler in the world”—with six thousand retail outlets, emphasizing “Unity,” for example, and publishing such works as Spalding’s Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, already noted. This work of DeVorss, Collier says, has now made Los Angeles the “metaphysical hub of the world.”’ DeVorss printed more than one thousand different books for the metaphysicallyminded. ²⁷ CFF2 1222.6

In Collier’s volume three, with its “Light from the East,” extensive excerpts from Spalding appear. ²⁸ Here he “quotes” the purported materialized “Jesus” as saying that as “God is divine,” so “man, His true son, born in His image and likeness, is as truly divine as the Father is divine.” Further, that “this divinity is the true Christ that every man sees and perceives, as in himself and in all of God’s children.” ²⁹ That is the other of the twin lies of Eden. CFF2 1223.1

It is therefore obvious that penetrations of the pagan occultism of the East are aggressively permeating and intermingling with the metaphysicism of the West, both being based on the common denominator of Spiritualism’s contentions of the divinity of man, the immortality of the soul, and the return of the disembodied spirits of the dead. Thus the net is being woven that is destined to ensnare all who are not rooted and grounded in the writings of the Inspired Word as to the true origin, nature, and destiny of man. CFF2 1223.2

7. UNITY-REINCARNATION RESULTS IN IMMORTALITY

The Unity School of Christianity was founded in 1889 by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, and is really a cross between New Thought and Christian Science. It relies on the power of the press and speaks through millions of tracts, pamphlets, and magazines. It now claims two million members, with “five million readers for its various periodicals.” It is America’s biggest “mail-order religion.” It is eclectic, drawing from all faiths and philosophies, particularly the Eastern. The Fillmores studied New Thought, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Christian Science, Spiritualism, and Hinduism. Unity was the result—a complex of ancient concepts but moving in a new direction. CFF2 1223.3

Fillmore, who had been “healed” by Christian Science, launched a journal in 1889 called Modern Thought. In 1890 it was changed to Christian Science Thought, which title was protested by Mary Baker Eddy. So it continued simply as Thought. But its affinity is more with New Thought, with current emphasis increasingly on health, prosperity, and happiness. It finally developed into a church, or sect. CFF2 1224.1

But let us peer into the heart of Unity. It teaches that all thought goes back to God, who is impersonal “Principle, Law, Being, Mind, Spirit, All- Good, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Unchangeable, Creator, Father, Cause, and Source of all that is.” In the mind is found the “meeting ground for man and God.” Man is declared to be a son of God, filled with Christ-consciousness. God exercises His attributes “through the inner consciousness of the universe and man.” ³⁰ A true spiritual body replaces the physical body when man actually becomes like Christ. This transformation takes place through a series of reincarnations and regenerations. CFF2 1224.2

Unity helpfully stresses avoidance of anything that injures the body, and encourages good health habits. But it reduces Jesus to the level of a mere man, who had within him the “perfect Christ idea,” and declares “the same Christ idea is in every man.” So all men are miniature Christs. But it boldly teaches reincarnation, resulting in immortality. Note it: CFF2 1224.3

“We believe that the dissolution of spirit, soul and body, caused by death, is annulled by rebirth of the same spirit and soul in another body here on earth. We believe the repeated incarnations of man to be a merciful provision of our loving Father to the end that all may have the opportunity to attain immortality through regeneration, as did Jesus. ‘This corruptible must put on incorruption.’” ³¹ CFF2 1224.4

This too is a thoroughly pagan Eastern occult view, which has successfully penetrated the West and is widely professed. A glance at the church-service pages of most Sunday newspapers discloses the number and the variety of the Occult groups locally. CFF2 1224.5

8. SIGNIFICANCE OF “GREAT LIGHT” FROM THE “EAST.”

Collier closes volume three by adverting again to Egypt’s “Great Pyramid” and its measurement “forecasts,” calling it a matchless “Bible in Stone,” with the story set forth in The Miracle of the Ages. The Pyramid is eulogized as embodying an “imposing list of prophecies of historical events.” ³² That is the parting glimpse of Collier’s portrayal of the “Great Light in land from] the East.” ³³ CFF2 1225.1