Chapel, Biblical Theological Seminary

4 Feb 1988

Dr. Robert C. Newman

 

FALSEPROPHETS & FALSE CHRISTS TODAY

 

Introduction

            Recently chance for Harding, Phillips & I tobe on TV (in audience) on show "Time Out"

            Interview of Benjamin Creme,a significant figure in New Age movement, with Qs and challenges from audience

            Talk today partly informative, on theology andmethod of one particular New Age figure

            Partly methodological: how respond to such people?

 

Benjamin Crme and his "Christ"Maitreya

            Announcement in major newspapers April 25, 1982

            The Christ came back July 19, 1977 (RC 24)

            To bring world peace and prosperity via sharing

            To go public within a short time

                        (readad)

 

Crmes Worldview

 

            Pantheism: all is God (RC 110):

                        Q:What do you mean by God? 

                        A:In a sense there is no such thing as God... in another sense, there is nothingelse but God... Every manifested phenomenon is part of God... you are God... Iam God.  And because all is God,there is no God.  God is notsomeone you can point to and say "That is God."  God is everything that you have everknown or could ever know – and everything beyond your level of knowing.

 

            Theosophy: mixture of E & W religion (RC 88):

                        Eventuallya new world religion will be inaugurated which will be a fusion and synthesisof the approach of the East and the approach of the West.  The Christ will bring together, notsimply Xy and Buddhism, but the concept of God transcendant... and also theconcept of God immanent in all creation...

 

            Reincarnation but app no Nirvana: evolution beyond man

                        Thereis nothing but Hierarchy in the whole of cosmos.  All of us are at some step on a ladder from down there toinfinity (RC 72) The Masters have done this [evolving via reincarnation] to thepoint where They are what we call perfect, but it is a relative perfection....They see great realms above Them, states of Being of which we can knownothing.  The Christ is the Masterof all the Masters, but He is not God, and never claimed to be God.  He is a Son of God, but then so are we.(RC 115)

        

            Allreligions (more or less) same(RC 28):

                        Allthe great religions hold before humanity the idea of a further revelation whichwill be given by a future Teacher or Avatar.  Xns hope for the X's return, the Buddhists look for the comingof... the Lord Maitreya, while the Muslims await the coming of the Imam Mahdi,the Hindus, the ... Krishna, and the Jews the Messiah.  Each of them expects a Coming One, aRevealer of new Truths and a Guide into the future.  Esotericists know them all as one Being, the World Teacher,the supreme Head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters, and look for Hisimminent return as we enter the Aquarian Age.

 

            Masters (RC 28):

                        Inevery age Teachers have come forth from this spiritual centre to enable mankindto take its next evolutionary step; we know them, among others, as Hercules,Hermes, Rama, Mithra, Vyasa, ... Krishna, Buddha and the Christ... They are thecustodians of a Plan for the evolution of Humanity and the kingdoms ofnature.  Their Plan works outthrough the agency of the esoteric Hierarchy of Masters who substand all worldevents and constitute the invisible (because unknown) government of the planet.  The Masters of Wisdom are those membersof the human family who have made the evolutionary journey ahead of us... They (orTheir predecessors) have been behind the whole evolutionary process, guidingand helping man, through a gradual expansion of consciousness, to revealsequentially, his innate Divinity, and to become, like Them, Divine, perfectedor illumined Beings.

 

            Re‑emergence of the Hierarchy (RC 30):

                        Inthe esoteric tradition, the Christ is not the name of an individual but of anOffice in the Hierarchy.  Thepresent holder of that Office, the Lord Maitreya, has held it for 2,600 years, andmanifested in Palestine through His Disciple, Jesus, by the occult method ofovershadowing...  At this pointwhen the Aquarian Age is dawning, the Masters of the Hierarchy are now ready toreturn, for the first time in countless thousands of years, to the everydayworld, to inaugurate the new age of Synthesis and Brotherhood... [They] willwalk openly among us and lead us into the Aquarian experience.  They stand now, waiting for us to take,of our own free will, the needed first steps in the direciton of unity,cooperation and fusion.  Then Theywill emerge with the Christ at Their Head, and Their Presence in the world willbe an established fact.

 

            IsThis the Antichrist?

                        Don'tknow yet, as Bible predicts many false Christs before the real Antichristarises.

                        Weshould neither get all worked up as though he definitely is, nor dismiss him asmerely a charlatan.

                        Satancan use Xns getting all worked up over such people in such a way that no onewill believe us when the real anti‑X comes along.

                        Thecrucial events to make such an identification have not happened yet, and maynever happen for Creme's candidate (presuming he exists).

 

Recognition of Heresy

            Easy for believers to spot, if they have anyScripture knowledge.

            Tougher for unbelievers:

                       Maynot know Scripture (few non‑Xns have ever read Bible through)

                        Mayhave rejected Scripture (common in pagan societies and in ours as a result of                         liberalism).

                       Mayprefer heresy over truth  (manycults are best understood as attempts to outbid Xy)

            How to help them see what is happening?

                       Needwisdom to recognize where heretic is coming from

                       Patience,clarity and tact to help others see

 

Techniques of False Prophets, FalseChrists

            Get media attention

            Don't advertise where you're really coming from

            Have answers ready for every objection:

                        "Lo,here": hasn't pointed him out (RC 48)

                        "Comingon clouds": landed at London airpt (RC 55)

                        "Everyeye shall see": international TV

                        "Signs& wonders": telepathy (RC 49‑50)

                                   instantaneouscures (MM 12)

 

Response to Them

            Try to help people see where they're really comingfrom

                       clarifydifferences betw them and Xy:

                       e.g., Jesus isnot the Christ (RC 46):

                                    He[the Disciple Jesus] was, and still is, a Disciple of the Christ and made thegreat sacrifice of giving up His body for the use of the Christ.  By the occult process of overshadowing,the Christ, Maitreya, took over and worked through the body of Jesus from theBaptism onwards.  In his nextincarnation, as Apollonius of Tyana, Jesus became a Master.  He lives now in a Syrian body which issome 600 years old, and has His base in Palestine.

                                   (contrast1 Jn 2:22; Lk 2:11)

                       evenX not very high, acc to Creme:

                                    Maitreyaone of 3 dept heads in planetary Hierarchy (RC 72)

                                    OurHierarchy brought to planet 17 mill BP by Lord of World (71)

                                    Stillhigher than Hierarchy is Shamballa (73), where L of World

                                               (Logosof Planet) manifested as Sanat Kumara (135)

                                    Aspectof God to which we aspire is Logos of Planet (ib)

                                    PlanetaryLogos is a little God in bigger God which is Logos of

                                               SolarSystem (116), who is below Logos of Sirius, and he below

                                                GalacticGod (ib, 117)

                                    (contrastJn 1:1‑3; Col 1:15‑17; Heb 1:3‑4; Rev 5: worship Lamb)

            Warn of Bible's prediction of false prophets, consequencesof error

            Emphasize need to knowScripture, not just to rest in fact that there are many interpretations.

            Show them tests for false prophets, etc.: Deut 18

                        Cremeset date on appearance in 1982 (RC 249 and ad)

                                    (claimsmedia made no real attempts to locate, MM 4)

                        Butmedia made attempts, date agreed July 31, 1985

                                    (noshow: claims great battle with evil, MM 6‑7)

 

Summary

            We need to care for truth, help others as best wecan

            How decide what groups to spend time on?

                        Analogousto lawyer's Q to which Jesus gave parable of

                        GoodSamaritan: help those you come in contact with

            Need to work on being able todetail & summarize so as to help those with little knowledge and those withmuch

            Need to have compassion on lost

 

Bibliography

 

Benjamin Creme,The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom(London and Los Angeles: Tara Press,1980).

________, MaitreyasMission (Amsterdam,London, Los Angeles: Share International Foundation, 1986).

ConstanceCumby, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow (Shreveport, La.: Huntingdon House, 1983).

Douglas R. Groothuis, Unmasking theNew Age (Downers Grove,Ill.: InterVarsity, 1986).