New Age Cults and Religions

by Texe Marrs

  Eckankar is simply a New Age religion that promises much, much more than it could ever deliver. Not too long ago I received a letter from a lady in New Jersey, who became intensely involved in Eckankar. She wrote: “I have been searching for‘God’for the last 18 years. I was involved with everything from Tarot Cards, the I Ching, astrology and most other teachings that you mentioned in your books, Dark Secrets of the New Age and Mystery Mark of the New Age. My latest involvement was with a group called Eckankar. I thought I had found all the answers to life.” She then went on to explain that Eckankar simply did not fill her need for a walk with God. Frustrated, she finally realized that, “The only place I knew of to find out about walking with God was the Bible. I had never read the Bible so I bought one and have not stopped reading it since.” She continued: “Needless to say, I have since become a born-again Christian and I am very content.”

  Chapter 25: THE FARM

  At The Farm, peyote, marijuana, and sacred (hallucinogenic) mushrooms have been used as “sacraments;” leather shoes are out because to kill animals would result in “negative karma;” and the mission of Jesus on planet earth is said to have been a failure. Led by Stephen Gaskin and composed of several hundred members, The Farm is a nature community made up of a group of ex-hippies who were flower children of the 60s. Their settlement is on roughly 1,700 acres about 65 miles south of Nashville. At one time The Farm was raided by police and Gaskin, its leader, spent a year in prison for drug violations.

  The Farm began as a collective but today, evidently, the members are independent and self-supporting. It also began with group marriages and group sex, but again this did not work out, and the nuclear family and monogamous system are now employed. Former members of The Farm say that Stephen Gaskin has declared himself a messenger from God. He denies such concepts as sin and guilt, and Gaskin has said of Jesus’sacrifice on the cross, that “It wasn’t exactly what he (Jesus) wanted to teach.” Thus, Gaskin denies the atonement.

  Residents of The Farm practice Zen meditation. Reportedly they are also into tantric (ritualistic) sex, and they hold in common with the Hindus such concepts as karma, reincarnation, and the use of mantras.

  Chapter 26: FELLOWSHIP OF ISIS

  On St. Patrick’s Day in 1966, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson had a revelation that God is a woman. He says that this greatly surprised him because, as an ordained priest in the Church of Ireland, he had been taught that God was male. Nevertheless, Lawrence began to study books on comparative religion and soon completely gave himself over to the goddess. His sister Olivia, a spiritualist and occultist, likewise fervently embraced the goddess, and finally his wife, Pamela (now deceased), also became a supporter. Together they decided to found the Fellowship of Isis, placing advertisements in occult and New Age magazines. The response overwhelmed them. They say that the fellowship now has almost 10,000 members in over 65 countries—including the Soviet Union—and the numbers are growing daily.

  To join the Fellowship of Isis, persons do not have to renounce their allegiance to other religions. They simply pledge themselves to the goddess. This is a feminist and nature/earth religion. Olivia has explained that “many Catholics are also joining the fellowship; they are disgusted that statues of “Our Lady” are not given the honor and respect they deserve in the Catholic Church.”

  To further emphasize the strength of their convictions, Lawrence and Olivia have turned their family castle into a literal temple to Isis. Especially on occultic and witchcraft holy days, such as Beltane, the May Day festival devoted to the goddess, special services are held at the temple. A crowd of local worshippers retreat to the basement area of the castle. There the worship area is set up. According to Lawrence and Olivia, the congregation recognizes the goddess by many names. She is “Hathor the Cow,” “Sekmet the Lioness,” “Lakshme,” “Demeter,” “Shiva,” and “Kali.” The Goddess is also recognized as the Blessed Virgin, Manian, the pony-goddess—a divinity made flesh in the Lady Godiva legend—Joan of Are, Queen Elizabeth II, and “every other equestrian woman.”

  Inside the worship area of the temple are trays of offerings and there are icons, statues, wall hangings from India, Egyptian decorations, and African masks. There are also two enormous stuffed serpents, representing the Yin/ Yang, made by the sister of Brigitte Bardot, the famed French actress who was universally known as a sex goddess. The centerpiece is the High Altar of Isis. “She started as the Virgin Mary,” Olivia explains, “but we were sick of ‘goody-goody statues’ and did her naked. Then, to please those who might be offended, we clothed the statue in the Waters of Life.”

  The temple ceremony to the goddess includes such rituals as the ringing of a Tibetan gong, the drawing of water from a spring sacred to the Druids, prayers and meditations, and the worship of a live woman draped entirely in black and seated on a chair next to the statue of Isis.

  According to Malise Ruthden, an English writer who wrote a story about this cult in England’s Harper’s & Queen magazine (September 1990), the woman representing the goddess Isis soon entered into a trance. Then she began to speak in solemn, Delphic tones proclaiming: “She is Isis of the ten thousand names: Obey her will, and the earth will become whole again.” Meanwhile, numerous priestesses and priests appeared and performed rites.

  Keep in mind that this is the account of a writer who was invited by the Fellowship to observe one ceremony. Only the membership truly knows what goes on behind closed doors when outsiders are not around.

  Later in this book we will examine in greater depth the subject of the modern-day revival of the worship of the goddess. The Bible, in Revelation 13, depicts the last days worldwide religion of the Adversary as one that will bring back the practices of the Mother Goddess, Mystery Babylon. Thus, the resurgence of interest in worshipping the goddess is significant. Those who have rejected traditional, biblical Christianity seem to be open to any pagan teaching that mocks and rejects the God of the Bible.

  Chapter 27: FINDHORN FOUNDATION

  In her bestselling book Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, an outstanding exposé of the New Age Movement, attorney Constance Cumby wrote: “The year 1962 was another landmark year, for that was when the Scottish community of Findhorn—the Vatican City of the New Age Movement—was founded.” Cumby added, “The lifework of Peter and Eilene Caddy and their friend Dorothy McLean, the role of Findhorn was to help usher in‘The Plan’on earth. Their work was performed by following meticulously the Alice Bailey writings and‘guidance’Eilene was receiving from spirit beings and what she called the voice of‘God.’

  For a time, Findhorn Community (formally the Findhorn Foundation) was indeed the “Vatican City” of the New Age. In 1970, a new member showed up at Findhorn, David Spangler. As Cumby reports, Spangler received a royal welcome because Eilene Caddy had received guidance from her spirits that David had the “Christ Energies.” Immediately Spangler was offered the job as co-director at Findhorn. As such he was the spiritual father, or guide, for the approximately 200 souls who resided there. Spangler promptly began to receive communications from a number of spirits, including demonic beings named Maitreya and Rakoczi, and a being who identified himself as “Limitless Love and Truth.” Also, there was “John,” whom many in the New Age believe to have been the real apostle John. These spirit beings, Spangler reports, convinced him that Lucifer is “an agent of God’s love.” Indeed, Spangler began to write books dictated to him by these spirits in which he declared:

  Christ is the same force as Lucifer... Lucifer prepares man for the experience of Christhood... Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness as we move into the New Age.

  In such books as Reflections on the Christ, published by Findhorn, Spangler suggested that a New Age Christ was coming other than Jesus. He also suggested that those who do not have the superior spiritual capacity required of the New Age might have to be sent to a special dimension where they will be kept for 1,000 years while the New Age kingdom is being built on earth.

 
The members of Findhorn believe strongly that their leadership is given divine guidance by the spirits. For example, there are reports that the community was ecstatic when one of Findhorn’s leaders related to residents that while walking in the garden of Findhorn, a horned and hairy creature who identified himself as Pan came to him and conversed on certain important subjects. Word soon got out that gnomes and other nature spirits were actively helping to create miracles in the fields at Findhorn. It was said that the vegetables and crops were unusually bountiful and that specimens were huge and oversized because of the spiritual energies of these nature spirits.

  In 1973, David Spangler left Findhorn along with some supporters to found a New Age group in America called the Lorian Foundation. Today he is associated with the Chinook Center and is also closely allied with St. John the Divine Cathedral, an Episcopal Church in New York City. Peter Caddy also left the community and handed the reigns over to successors.

  Today the glory of the Findhorn Community is only a faded memory to many. But its horrible works continue in that its influence has been felt by so many of the elite in the New Age. Apparently, many in the New Age were especially influenced by David Spangler’s works. In his Reflections on the Christ, he stated: “Lucifer comes to give us the final Luciferic initiation... It is an invitation into the New Age.”

  Interestingly, Spangler denies that Lucifer is the same being as Satan. Today the same lie, that Lucifer is the god of light and is not at all like the Satan described in the Bible, is a common belief among the New Age hierarchy.

  Chapter 28: THE FORUM (EST)

  How much would you pay to sit in an audience while a leader on the stage degrades and heaps abuse on you and other participants? What would it be worth for you to be one of scores of people who begin to “urinate, defecate, convulse, sob, and vomit” during the training sessions? Well, if during the 70s and 80s you attended a session of est (Erhard Seminars Training) this is exactly what you might have experienced. Amazingly, some 500,000 people went through the est experience. In doing so they received something that its founder, Werner Erhard, called IT; they got “IT.”

  Evidently, though many today still rave about getting “IT,” some were not so thrilled. Erhard, formerly an encyclopedia sales representative whose real name is Jack Rosenberg, began to be the subject of a number of lawsuits filed by people who believed they were psychologically damaged by est. Consequently, Erhard has now come out with a more toned-down version of est, which he calls The Forum. It is offered today through his company, Transformational Technologies, Inc.

  Werner Erhard’s The Forum can be had for about $525. That gets you four 16-hour sessions in which you learn to transform your consciousness and, The Forum promises, “make it happen.” In its new incarnation, The Forum is looking for top dollar executives and managers and is definitely going after the business marketplace. “Excellence” is what it promises its participants. In reality what those who attend The Forum get is a bunch of hashed over, hippie-like, Hinduistic, Scientology-oriented, Zen Buddhist self-help philosophy that probably leaves them little better off, if not worse, than when they came in the front door.

  It was in 1971 that Werner Erhard first offered his creation known as “est” to a very willing public. It was designed to “restructure a person’s worldview, to bring it into line” with New Age feelings and experiences. By the third day of the est program, each new member was expected to get “IT.” Nobody ever explained what “IT” was, although more than a few Christians suggested that “IT” might be demon spirits. Regardless, the 500,000 graduates of est, and now the thousands of New Agers and others who have completed The Forum, represent a significant group who have fanned out throughout our society to lead a number of other New Age groups, organizations, cults, and churches. Thus Werner Erhard and his seminars have been a tremendously effective influence in promoting New Age goals.

  Our Space Agency Pays for New Age Training

  So successful is Werner Erhard that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) actually paid The Forum over $40,000 in 1988 for the opportunity to have Erhard personally come to NASA headquarters and teach high management officials his program. Although we would not place the blame on Erhard, one wonders what exactly it was that these employees got for the taxpayers money that was expended. We now see failure after failure of the space shuttle, the space telescope, and other NASA ventures.

  Erhard has also been welcomed into the Soviet Union where his seminars are finding increasing favor among those Soviet-style bureaucrats who are into the “New Thinking” of President Mikhail Gorbachev.

  While his group may not technically be a “cult” and while it does not presume to have religious aspirations, it is a fact that Erhard has denied the unique deity of Christ, as do all non-Christian cult leaders. While Erhard might say that Jesus is “god,” he means it in the same sense in which each of us is god of our own realities. The deity of Christ for The Forum is simply the deity of every human being, and the gospel according to Erhard is a philosophically distilled version of Eastern Mysticism and psychology packaged in a high pressure group situation. The Forum teaches that we all create our own reality, and that no one’s reality is objectively right or wrong. Instead, each person is responsible only to himself or herself. The individual is taught that he or she has limitless potential. The training in The Forum, through a form of marathon shock therapy, is intended to help the person to develop this unlimited potential.

  Erhard and Scripture

  Many passages in the Bible make a shambles of Erhard’s philosophy. In Romans 5, Paul states that we are justified by faith and that we have peace with God only through Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:22-23 encourages us to continue in the faith. The Bible clearly tells us that we are not gods, nor can man be perfect; yet Erhard says that we are perfect now and that certainly there is no God outside of us that is more perfect. “Self is all there is—I mean that is all there is.”

  The fact is that any person who truly believes in Christ and follows the Bible’s guidelines for daily living receives a peace within that surpasses all understanding. What a contrast with the psychiatric disturbances associated with est. According to one report in the American Journal of Psychiatry (March 1977), the researchers noted that a number of patients “developed psychotic symptoms including grandiosity, paranoia, uncontrollable mood swings, and delusions” following their participation in Erhard’s est seminars.

  The Forum now operates a number of centers or “work spaces” in the United States and abroad—in Bombay, Tel Aviv, London, Melbourne, Montreal, Munich, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, and Vancouver. As I mentioned, the program is also now offered in the Soviet Union. In addition, a number of other organizations have been founded by est graduates or by individuals who have in one way or another been influenced by Werner Erhard. Such groups include the Center for Attitudinal Healing. Groups spun off from est and The Forum do not necessarily use the same techniques and practices.

  Chapter 29: FOUNDATION FAITH OF GOD

  The Foundation Faith of God was established in 1980. It appears to be a type of warped group with a combination of New Age and conservative Bible, apocalyptic teachings. For example, the members seem to have a belief in the deity of Jesus and at least some conception of the Second Coming, but at the same time they embrace doctrines such as reincarnation. The clergy of this group also conduct “angel listenings.” They have convinced their members that they receive messages directly from angels and are able to write down the instructions received to help the person in his or her daily life. As of a few years ago, this group had centers and ministries operating in Las Vegas, New York, New Orleans, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Denver and Toronto and Ottawa in Canada.

  The Foundation Faith of God was previously called the Foundation Faith of the Millennium and before that was founded as the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Under this earlier name, members were called Processians because they believed in a process in which the
earth is headed toward an incredibly chaotic time and blood is bound to flow. The scary thing is that there were many allegations that mass-murderer Charles Manson was connected to the Processians. In fact, mention was made of them at Manson’s trial, and it is reported that two church representatives visited Manson in his jail cell.

  As Processians, members wore black robes with silver crosses entwined with a red serpent. They taught that man must love his enemies, including Satan. Indeed, the Processians were convinced that in the last days, Christ and Satan will be reconciled. Christ will come to judge the world while Satan will execute judgment. It was therefore believed that man should worship both Christ and Satan. In some Processian churches, the Satanic Bible was displayed along with the Holy Bible and readings were made out of each.

  Today, the original founder of this group, Englishman Robert DeGrimston, has long since departed and reports indicate that the group seems to have toned down or eliminated entirely its Luciferian elements. There have been some claims that this group is moving toward a more traditional form of Christianity. Still, I would certainly caution anyone that might be tempted to become involved with this group to first check out its atrocious history and carefully consider also its current practices and teachings in light of its potential involvement in New Age occultism.