by Texe Marrs
Chapter 94: THE UNIFICATION CHURCH (REV. SUN MYUNG MOON)
The Unification Church, popularly known as the “Moonies,” has a notorious reputation. Its founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon of Korea, did time in federal prison for tax manipulation. He became famous in the 70s for conducting mass marriages of over 1,000 couples at once. For these marriages, Moon himself personally selected the bride and bridegroom for each other. Moon’s theology as taught by the Unification Church is quite unique. He has published a book, Divine Principle, which teaches that Jesus, as well as Adam and Eve, failed to do what God desired. Jesus failed in His mission, says Moon. He was supposed to marry and bear perfect children but was killed before he could accomplish His given tasks. Because of Jesus’ failure, Moon has said that a “Lord of the Second Advent” must now come on the world scene. It is he who shall provide for the salvation of the world that Jesus could not achieve. Moreover, Moon intimates that this new Christ will hail from South Korea. Many of his followers believe that Moon refers to himself as that messiah.
Moon teaches a theological concept called Godism, the idea that all men are universally evolving into perfection. According to the Moonies, the God of Judaism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and all others is one and the same. Godism is also said to be a formula for ushering in the kingdom of God on earth by human effort. Thus, Moon’s philosophies—and his abundant supply of money and financial largesse—have appealed to a number of Christian ministries, evangelists, and leaders who are themselves involved in a heretical movement called the Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology.
Moon’s Reincarnated Son
A recent stir was caused when it was exposed that Moon’s Unification Theological Seminary had begun to teach that a young man from Zimbabwe was Moon’s reincarnated son. Moon’s son, Jin, had been killed in a car crash in 1984 at age 17. But now, Moon believes that he has come back from the dead in the body of a visiting church member from Zimbabwe. An official of Moon’s church seemed highly pleased with the news accounts of the reincarnation of Moon’s son in the body of this Zimbabwean. Frederick Sontag, editorial director of Paragon House, a Moon-financed publishing company, remarked of the reincarnation account, “This has been revitalizing... a sort of calling back of spiritualism... It’s really been a great phenomenon.” (Washington Post, March 30, 1988)
Rev. Moon has created a number of front organizations to promote his doctrines and personal goals. One such group is CAUSA, a political arm.
Moon’s Unification Church has few members today, yet his great personal wealth makes him a force to contend with. His goal is said to be that of establishing a super race, a new international family of perfect people. It is clear to see that Moon’s theology is classic New Age occultism.
Chapter 95: UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
In 1959 when the Unitarian Church merged with the Universalist Church to form the Unitarian-Universalist Association, it became a case of the blind leading the blind into the ditch. Together, these churches consist of members who have turned their face away from the truth of Holy Scripture. The Unitarian-Universalists have as their goal the promotion of harmony and unity among all religious faiths, Christian or otherwise. Unfortunately, in their desire to promote unity, this church has renounced almost every facet of historical biblical Christianity. Falsely claiming to believe in both Christ and the Bible, the Unitarian-Universalist Association makes light of the virgin birth; they also reject the Trinity and the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. They profess that Jesus Christ is little more than a wonderful teacher, and assert that the Bible is only one of many sacred writings available from all the great religions. Naturally, for such a liberal body, concepts such as heaven and hell are considered ridiculous and the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins is scoffed at and summarily dismissed.
Until recently when the New Age fad caught on with the masses, the Unitarian-Universalist Church was in a tailspin in terms of membership, with its ranks steadily declining. However, in recent years, mainly due to the fact that this group is fully in concord with most of the doctrinal foundations of the New Age Religion, membership has increased slightly. According to the Rev. William F. Schultz, president of the liberal, 190,000 member denomination, membership increased some 1.4 percent in 1989.
Chapter 96: UNITY CHURCH
Unity Church is aptly named. One researcher has said that this is a group which embraces practically everything and rejects nothing. Actually this is not correct. Unity Church, also variously called the Unity School of Christianity, the Unity School of Positive Christianity, or the Unity School of Practical Christianity, is willing to accept any and all beliefs except fundamentalist Christianity. Such doctrines as the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross, the inerrancy of the Bible, judgment of a righteous, personal God, and so many other unshakable convictions that Christians have held since our Lord and Savior died on the cross for us—all of these are considered unsophisticated, uncouth, and even ridiculous according to many ministers and members of Unity churches.
Unity’s doctrines and teachings are greatly similar to those of Christian Science and the Church of Religious Science. All three are connected with the New Thought movement. When Charles and Myrtle Fillmore founded Unity in 1889 their intent was to formalize the teachings of such men as Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a quack mental healer whose teachings were extremely popular in the latter part of the 19th century.
Unity also borrows heavily from the Hindu teachings of such gurus as Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu leader who achieved a measure of popularity as he came to America and preached the unity of all religions under the umbrella of Hindu superiority. Unity, therefore, embraces such concepts as reincarnation and the existence of many sacred books in addition to the Bible. Like the Hindus, Unity preaches that “God” is not personal but is simply “love,” a type of force or energy which permeates the universe. Instead of worshipping Jesus Christ, Unity proposes that we seek our own “Christ Consciousness.” In the Unity theology, evil and sin are illusions. As Myrtle Fillmore taught, “I am a child of God; therefore, I do not inherit sickness.” To eradicate physical ills and mental sickness and to attract happiness, all a person needs to do is to tap into, or become attuned, aligned, or united with the “Divine Mind.”
Unity is one of the fastest growing New Age church systems. It is especially seductive because it preaches a Jesus of love and harmony. Rarely do those who attend Unity Churches consult God’s Word. If they did, beginning with Genesis and continuing on to the book of Revelation, no doubt the Holy Spirit would convict them and they would quickly discard the heretical teachings of Unity.
Chapter 97: URANTIA
I have discovered that Urantia is easily among the most deceptive of the New Age cult groups. It is deceptive because it offers mankind another Jesus, a false Jesus. As many as one million people or more have in one way or another been impacted so far by the teachings of Urantia, and the cult group is growing astronomically in numbers each day. It operates through a number of cooperating groups with a variety of names. The Jesusonian Foundation, Boulder, Colorado, is one group. Another is the Urantia Brotherhood and yet a third is the Urantia Foundation. There are also separate “societies,” each composed of ten or more people, throughout the United States. The followers of Urantia are also now cooperating with those involved in the Course in Miracles cult, and Urantia is reaching out its tentacles to unite many other New Age and apostate Christian groups and churches as well.
Founded in 1955, with its beginnings in Chicago, Illinois, Urantia teaches that traditional—that is biblical—Christianity is in error because it has made these two great mistakes: “First, biblical Christianity teaches that Jesus was the sacrificed Son who would satisfy the Father’s stern justice and appease the divine wrath,” and second, “Christianity wrongly organizes the Christian teaching so completely about the person of Jesus.” We readily see, then, that Urantia, although it claims to be a new revelation of Jesus
, is a false religion hostile to and in direct competition with true Christianity.
Urantia has chapters, or societies, forming all over the United States. This New Age organization has its own bible, The Urantia Book, a 2,097-page behemoth supposedly given by divine inspiration. In this book, disciples learn that they can invite “Thought Adjusters” (Christians know them as demons) to dwell within. These Thought Adjusters allow the individual’s Higher Self to experience “the presence of God.” Men should be thankful, says The Urantia Book, “that the Thought Adjusters condescend to offer themselves for actual existence in the minds of material creatures.” Lowly humans are indeed blessed that the higher spirit beings are ready “to consummate a probationary union with the animal-origin beings of earth.”
The Urantia Book teaches that the indwelling of these spirits should cast out fear and uncertainty. When such negative thoughts enter a person’s mind, they should immediately look to “Satania” for relief:
When the clouds gather overhead, your faith should accept the fact of the presence of the indwelling Adjusters... Look beyond the mists of mortal uncertainty into the clear shining of the sun of eternal righteousness on the beckoning heights of the mansion worlds of Satania.
Urantia students obviously believe “Satania” to be heaven and the Thought Adjusters to be angelic presences. I have no doubt that many who study The Urantia Book truly believe they are doing right. Tragically, the power of Satan has so engulfed the minds of these men and women that they cannot discern the truth.
Chapter 98: VALLEY OF THE SUN (DICK SUTPHEN)
Richard (Dick) Sutphen, founder and head of the Valley of the Sun, is definitely one of the major stars in the New Age firmament. A man of entrancing charismatic persona who possesses intellect and wit, Sutphen has established an impressive series of training programs and seminars and is publisher of a number of New Age books, tapes, and videos. Sutphen, an activist against fundamentalist Christianity, once suggested that the New Age had a great advantage because it could change and redefine its terms at ease. At one time Sutphen established a newsletter, the principal function of which was to attack fundamentalist Christian teachers opposed to the New Age Movement.
Sutphen specializes in subliminal message tapes, hypnosis, and occultic New Age symbols. He has advocated meditation, automatic writing, and use of the pendulum, and is an astute believer in traditional metaphysical concepts of reincarnation, karma, and the unity of all religious beliefs. Sutphen is especially well-known for his self-help tapes which promise the individual that he or she can attain any one of a number of personal goals such as high energy, personality transformation, getting by on less sleep, personal power, monetary success, physical healing, psychic ability, and so forth.
Chapter 99: WINDSTAR FOUNDATION (JOHN DENVER)
John Denver and his friend, Thomas Crum, inaugurated the Windstar Foundation in 1976. Denver is the singer and actor (“Oh God!”) who rose to prominence on the back of the nature and environmental lyrics of such songs as “Rocky Mountain High” and “Sunshine on My Shoulder.” Through his Windstar Foundation, John Denver has been able to promote his favorite pet philosophies—that the earth is a sacred being and that man must organize into a one world community. Windstar is located on about 1,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, not far from Aspen. Many famous New Agers and occult teachers have trekked to Windstar for symposia and conferences. Among the speakers have been actor Dennis Weaver, management author Dr. Ken Blanchard, Soviet apologist Vladimir Posner, World Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, self-help psychologist Leo Buscaglia, Atlanta politician Andrew Young, Cable News Network founder Ted Turner, J. Peter Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Knights of Malta) and head of W. R. Grace Corporation, and many, many more.
One of John Denver’s newsmaker projects has been to promote his plans to fly on a Soviet space mission. Because he has been a big mover in the world peace movement and has promoted Soviet Union propaganda so often, Denver may very well be selected for a future Soviet space flight. In 1988, wire reports stated that Denver was allowed to give a briefing at NASA headquarters on his plans to fly on a Soviet space mission. According to the reports, some NASA astronauts became very angry because they were required to attend the briefing which they correctly perceived as a bunch of pro-Soviet propaganda. The Houston Chronicle reported that one veteran astronaut angrily condemned the September 6, 1988 briefing as a “waste of time and an insult to the astronauts who had better things to do.”
Meanwhile, NASA, whose top officials have also invited such New Age leaders as est’s Werner Erhard to address high level managers and astronauts, has agreed to team up with the United Nations, Amway Corporation, and John Denver’s Windstar Foundation for the cause of “environmental protection and awareness.” Amway, in its Amagram of May, 1990, bragged of its sponsorship of the project.
Chapter 100: WORLD GOODWILL
World Goodwill is an organization closely linked with the Lucis Trust and the Arcane School. Founded by Alice Bailey, whose teachings and works came directly from the demon world through her spirit guide, Djwhal Khul, the Tibetan Master, World Goodwill is headquartered in New York City. World Goodwill works very closely with the United Nations and its leadership is active not only in New York City but also in London and Geneva. The group publishes a number of reports and conducts symposia and conferences related to its goals which are completely consistent with those of the Lucis Trust.
World Goodwill proposes that there is an unidentified and unnamed group of men existing in the world today who are working together, networking toward the goal of fulfilling the occult Plan of creating a One World Order. Members of this secretive group, which World Goodwill calls the New Group of World Servers, are supposedly working in the highest levels of government, finance, education, religion, and other fields to advance the integration of the nations, the unification of all religions, and to inaugurate a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
Chapter 101: WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD (HERBERT ARMSTRONG)
Untold millions have read the widely distributed magazine Plain Truth, published by the Worldwide Church of God, a pseudochristian religion founded by radio evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934. Armstrong also established Ambassador College and set up a network of churches. Even though Armstrong has passed away, the church organization he set up continues, though it operates with decidedly less impact and influence than it had in his lifetime. Nevertheless, the Church’s TV program, “The World Tomorrow,” is broadcast over many television stations and cable systems and the radio broadcast is carried on dozens of radio stations. Moreover, in addition to the popular Plain Truth magazine, the church continues to publish the books and writings of Herbert W. Armstrong and offer its correspondence courses.
One can listen to the radio or TV broadcast a number of times or read several issues of the Plain Truth magazine and never quite understand the real teachings of this religious group. Moreover, because it contains just enough truth to make it attractive and enticing to listeners who know just a smidgen of true biblical Christianity, the Worldwide Church of God has been able to cloak itself as a “Christian” denomination or church. It is therefore important that we list some of the more important doctrines of this group so that readers can understand how radically divergent are its teachings from those of the Gospel. Among the church’s teachings are the following:
Like other New Age religious groups, the Worldwide Church of God preaches that man’s destiny is to become divine like God Himself. In his book, The Incredible Human Potential, Herbert W. Armstrong stated: “God’s purpose in creating man is to reproduce Himself—with such perfect spiritual character as only God possesses.”
Jesus Christ in John 3:3 reveals to us that to receive salvation a man must be born again, becoming a new creature in spirit. Armstrong’s contrary teaching is that God does not or cannot instantaneously create a new spirit in a person. In The Incredible Human Potential, Armstrong writes: “Such perfect spir
itual and holy character cannot be created by fiat. It must be developed, and that requires time and experience.” In other words, salvation is not the immediate work of God, a gift to the person who cries out to the Lord and repents, but is a process of works.
Armstrong taught that Jesus alone of all humans has so far been saved. He wrote: “Jesus was the first human ever to achieve it—to be perfected, finished as a perfect character.” (see Why Were You Born?, pages 11-14). Here again we find the New Age doctrine that Jesus did not come in the flesh as God, but instead had to earn his salvation through works. How different is this teaching than the instruction we find in the Bible. For example, John 8:46 tells us that Jesus alone was born without sin and lived a sinless life. John 1 clearly tells us that Jesus was not a created being but has always been God. Blasphemously, Herbert W. Armstrong also wrote that the teaching that Jesus came in the flesh as God is a “Satan-inspired doctrine.” Armstrong maintained that anyone who taught that Jesus was other than a normal human being when he was born is “of the antichrist.”
Also, like all other New Agers, Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God say that all of mankind collectively is becoming God. In Why Were You Born? (pages 21, 22) Armstrong says that at the time of the resurrection, “We shall then be born of God—we shall then be God!”