It is an article that I write with the pleading look at Jesus. Jesus, let me find the words that are yours. Your words, not mine. I am treading on scorched ground, Lord.
I write this article with all my heart for charismatic brothers and sisters.
The basic condition for understanding is the recognition of the spiritual dimension of the fallen world. If you do not believe in demons, attacks, God's working and speaking until today through the Holy Spirit, guidance, answers to prayer and blessings, then you will have little to do with it. So I presume that should you read it, you will be clearly in tune with Ephesians 6. In addition, I apologize for the length of the article. It is worth reading and instructive. Perhaps you will take the time it takes to read it if you are irritated and have difficulty clearly separating false doctrine from Christian doctrine.
We all know that we are in spiritual battle. Much escapes our eyes, and half-blind we plod across the battlefield, hoping to expose those who want to seduce us and throw us into confusion. The voices of false Christs, so similar to that of Jesus, which lead to total confusion because they announce things that do not happen, promise healing where none comes and leave a desert of doubt and disillusionment, fear and lost trust - we all know them. "But Jesus said" No. He didn't. What he says always happens. What doesn't happen, he didn't say either. As bitter as it is, because then you have to ask yourself WHO sent dreams, visions and signs if not Jesus.
Everything I write below I write as a testimony and based on my direct experience. I try to clarify terms that come up as best I can, and I pray that this post will be seen as eye-opening and explanatory by as many as possible. In addition, I offer you a small foundation for understanding various currents. All this from a position striving for complete freedom of judgement and condemnation. Indeed, I still and still hope for positive outcome and that it is only confusion and contestation, not collective, targeted fraud.I dont want to believe that. That would be beside the damage done to all true believers be all too treacherous. Odd.
I would like to add something:
I will not avoid mentioning Bethel Church Redding in this context.
I ask you, though, to distinguish: The members, the "fans" and the leadership. And when it comes to the leadership, to distinguish again between the persons and the spirits.
What I write is not directed against Bill Johnson. It is not directed against Jenn Johnson nor Kris Valloton, nor Todd Bentley. I don't know to what extent their past has been dealt with, known, changed, or cleared up. In the case of Bill Johnson and Todd Bentley, it is, as publical known, heavily Masonic. This is known, at least, because of interviews, in case of Todd Bentley, its a personal confession.
But I do know that what we once were and perceived as our identity has massive bearing on the new life in Christ. It is what the Bible calls the "old man." Some of you may have been Christians from childhood- but even that doesn't save you from a search for meaning, orientation, and it must not- because the decision for Jesus as the only way must be clear. Independently. And be recognized as necessary. No one becomes a Christian just because his parents were Christians. It needs the personal, conscious decision for Jesus.
Even then, it takes long, long years until we say goodbye to old value systems - to false self-images and false convictions. Sometimes we never do. This is where the gates of temptation are formed, because we do not realize that we identify ourselves with false thoughts, false values or false spirits, that is, that we are founded in something other than Christianity.
Well, after these introductory words, I will not shirk any longer.
The great enemy, the great confusion that is invading communities, is New Age ideologies and concepts. Spiritist ways that have little or nothing to do with the original salvation message of Jesus. The basis of the New Age is a humanistic worldview across the board.
Humanism. It sounds great, and to be honest, in very many areas it also seems more Christian than Christianity itself from our worldly point of view. Appreciation, tolerance, being a good person. Striving for ennoblement of character. Appreciate the high, subtle arts, seek discourse in tolerance. These are just a few values of what humanism stands for. Charity, empathy, cohesion - humanists are all-around pleasant, often empathetic and idealistic humanitarians. From humanism springs democracy as we know it today. Most social orders are humanistic. It is the agreement to let each other stand, to tolerate. Values such as religious freedom, human rights - all this has its roots in humanism. Humanities are humanistic, psychology is humanistic, well - let's put it this way - actually pretty much everything we base our worldly, enlightened identity on is found there.
But what does humanism actually mean?
The word "humanism" is derived from the Latin term "humanitas". It means "humanity". In general, humanism refers to a state of mind or attitude. Those who have a humanistic mindset respect the dignity of each individual human being.
At the center of all considerations is the human being in his relationships, in his self-development, in his self-identity. Self-realization, i.e. the development of all desirable qualities inherent in oneself while preserving the freedom of one's neighbor, is the core message of humanism. It lives from the striving for knowledge through further education, through artistic expression and builds a bridge to the classical philosophy of antiquity such as Aristotle, Origines and so on.
In its values it is amazingly similar to Christianity and Jesus' message:
Love of neighbor, respect for neighbor, ennoblement of character, mercy/caring-all these are the central values of Christianity as well as humanism. The only difference is that humanism does not know any form of sin. If Jesus proclaims that mankind is sinful and lost, that "man's heart is a pit of murder," that he has abandoned his origin and the Father and is running after false gods, humanism proclaims that man is fundamentally good and only suffers injuries and wounds that in turn make him hurt.
Real guilt does not exist in humanism, there are only experiences. Accordingly, there is at most an allegorical, i.e. allegorical meaning of the fall of man and the death of Jesus on the cross. A substitutionary work of redemption is not connected with it, Jesus is not recognized as God's son, but as an exemplary, humanistic man. Where a spiritual life after death is assumed, Jesus is seen at most as a human being who ascended to the next dimension of immortality by overcoming and mastering himself - while retaining all character traits. Here one speaks then of the so-called "ascended masters", to which in the New Age also (and especially! He is the secret star") the count of St. Germain belongs.
Humanism is progressive and knows no personal God. It is rather a product of the decidedly science, research and education dedicated counter-movement to the then dominating Christian church and its views in need of reform. Accordingly, the spiritualistic views originate from the desire to find out "what holds the world together at its innermost core", the search for harnessing energetic and spiritual connections for the attainment of eternal youth, for the benefit of processes, growth, etc.. Alchemy in particular was dedicated to these goals.
However, since this research, these new theories of science and especially of human connections/psyche were suppressed and persecuted by the church, the intellectual heads of the society joined together in a secret society and recognized each other by secret hand signs and symbols. They formed rope teams to support each other and swore an unbreakable oath to share the "secret knowledge, the secret insight" only within the circle. In accordance with the humanistic orientation, political positions and religious affiliation were irrelevant. The Freemasons were founded.
But as it is, man is insatiable in his quest for knowledge. Within the Masonic "lodges" were also formed those who were dedicated not only to science, but also to occult research, that is, magic and sorcery.
The most famous representative of these occult masonic currents was again the historical Count of St. Germain, but even better known is the Satanist and occultist Aleister Crowley.
These occult lodges are clearly dedicated to the exploration and manipulation of spiritual dimensions. So here you have to distinguish: There are lodges, yes, that follow the Luciferan principle, but Freemasonry is first of all not per se the devil's work. However, they are mystical, like to dig too deep into connections that lead into magic and bind there, and are closer to the idea of rebirth/karma than that of the redemptive work of Jesus. Basically, they believe in the compatibility of all religions, that is, they believe that there is truth in every religion. To live in peace and harmony with the essence of all religions and without claiming absolutes, to realize oneself and to "master" the energetic, spiritual world - this is what we call world unity religion, and this is also what Lightwork/New Age/New Era represents. An absolute claim of Jesus as the only way, truth and life does not exist and if, then only as the royal way of self-realization, because he stands for truth and unconditional love in this system.
So much for the basics.
Now to the personal part, which is closely connected with spiritual gifts and knowledge, and for which only I can stand as a witness - besides the innumerable experience reports of others.
I think it has become obvious how close humanism and Christianity are and how easily they can be confused when the idea of restoration in Christ is added.
New Age offers a lot of healing methods that basically make exactly the same offers as we know in healing processes by the Holy Spirit itself: Liberation, "healing of the heart", self-worth, unfolding, inner reconciliation, resolution of old entanglements. Self-submersion and spiritual experiences, experiences of dissolution of boundaries ("feelings of oneness", energetic healing- the market is colorful and dazzling.
Fatally, there is also a Christ ray- an ascension path towards Christ consciousness. Mixed with humanitarian thoughts, the distinction is really darned difficult, because:
The realization of the greatness and beauty, the joy in Jesus, the real acknowledgment and acceptance of the gift of forgiveness and grace, the grounding of one's identity and self-worth in Jesus- all of this, of course, Christianity also knows- indeed, it is key to entrusting oneself to the Holy Spirit and His guidance. And of course Jesus "loves us well". He leads us into the freedom "for which he has set us free". And the love and acceptance of ourselves, of our new value in him is absolutely necessary to be able to come into agape love. We strive towards Jesus, we follow him. We want to become one with his message, with his good ways, with his guidance. We want to know him and be known, we want to love him and be loved. And we recognize more and more his true nature, and are overwhelmed with gratitude and love. This is then called praise.
So how do you differentiate, and what does St.Germain, or the anti-Christian power behind St.Germain have to do with it? I will come to that now.
The differences are clear only if we look at the cross and at the decisive contradictions between Christianity and humanism: I contrast them equally:
1.)
Humanism: Man is good from the ground up.
Christianity: Man is fallen, sinful, and of himself incapable of holiness and goodness.
2)
Humanism: The center of everything is man and his high self, there is no God.
Christianity: Center of everything is God and his will, there is no high self.
3rd)
Humanism: There are only experiences and violations, no universal law to violate.
Christianity: There is the law of God that shows us our own sinfulness. That is why Jesus fulfilled the law for us and became our righteousness. We hurt others by violating God's commandment of love and rejected self-responsibility as well as passing on guilt and pride-and need grace again and again to grow in love and sanctification.
4th)
Humanism: Man develops himself, it is he who ennobles the character. (active)
Christianity :God unfolds man according to his original plan, he is revealed. The Holy Spirit accomplishes it, not me. (passive)
5)
Humanism: Man decides about his progress, depending on his willingness to deal with himself and to initiate healing processes. (active)
Christianity: Progress and growth lie in the willingness to follow God's ways, to be led and to surrender. Healing is a gift of grace that can only be asked for and brought about by Jesus. (passive, surrender)
To put it simply, humanism, New Age and all the associated "healing methods" place all power in the hands of the person who is all-around good and only needs to heal his hurts and karma. Everything is allowed, negative experiences have nothing to do with sin or wrong behavior in the sense of violation of God's commandments, but with personal immaturity and endured suffering. There is no guideline, no sanctification. There is only the achievement of one's own potential. Love is all-tolerance. Everything is equal, everything is wanted, everything is allowed and good.
In spiritualistic humanism, there are also helper beings who help one with the release. These are the ascended masters who have successfully completed the path of self-mastery and instruct in the proper use of creative power. This is also where Word Faith, the reprogramming of one's consciousness, the dissolving of generational curses, and so on, comes into play. It is a pure way of self-redemption, by recognizing, dissolving and changing these building blocks, and which also exists in its own form (NLP, hypnosis techniques, self-influence) in esotericism. The basis for this are the different energy levels, the "cosmic energy rays", to which the corresponding masters with their own areas of responsibility are assigned. You can "channel" them by opening your mind to their presence and connecting with their "principles". One of these masters, master of the blue-violet ray, is Saint Germain.
In addition, there is the always available life energy ( Reiki, Qui) and the angelic beings that help in ascension through several levels. One overcomes even death and becomes immortal. Those who manage to overcome the illusion of death on earth are ascended masters. Among them, besides "Christ", Saint Germain also Sananda (further development of Christ), Lord Maitreya (Master of Christ), Kuthumi (Francis of Assisi), Lady Nada (Mary Magdalene), Mary (Mother of Jesus), Buddha, the God of the Dead Thoth and many others.
At the latest here one thing should be clear: In this system Jesus is neither the son of God nor God himself. YAHWE simply does not exist, at most as a union of an infinite number of individual godlike beings.
There is no triune God, there is no death on the cross, there is no fall into sin beyond early childhood traumas. Instead there are levels of ascension (to where? to whom?), overcoming and controlling matter (magic), influencing one's own life path by channeling energy (channeling, spirit healing) and the law of attraction (creating one's own reality through visualization and creative words). Since Christ is neither God nor God's son or Lord, but only a divine ray, there is of course also no return in person, no coming kingdom, but only all-reconciliation.
Man is accordingly the measure of all things and center of all.
Perhaps now it becomes clear what happens when the cross and the necessity of genuine repentance and request for forgiveness are removed from the proclamation: One automatically ends up in this New Age concept. Likewise, one lands there when sin is not mentioned or is no longer allowed to be called as such: If devaluation, oppression, hatred, exploitation, striving for power, greed, fornication, lying, abuse, adultery, affairs, intemperance and so on are simply character flaws, but not sin in the biblical sense.
Moreover, if the cross is erased, that is, the possibility of forgiveness and repentance, there is also no more grace. One can no longer unload one's guilt, but must work on one's character. On a spiritual level, curses and entanglements bind one for generations, which were finally defeated by Jesus' acceptance on the cross. One is simply not a new creation in Christ, nor does one need to be. One does not have him as Lord, one does not have him as God. One stands outside the Christian community.
The cross is the dividing line, the acknowledgement of one's own failure in view of Jesus and the desire to grow towards him is the only distinction between one way and the other.
Now to St. Germain.
I loved Jesus and I knew the Holy Spirit when I slipped into New Age. But what I lacked was the realization of how fallen I really am, how needy, and how much in need of His grace and forgiveness. Jesus was close to me, He guided me, I had surrendered my life, but what was missing was what we call the revelation of the Cross. If you want to belong to Jesus, you really have to understand that without Him, you can't go two feet." Take me and all the crap that I am. Make me whole. Be Lord and take me over. I need you. I've failed."
When I started Reiki, I did it because I wanted to find the spiritual gifts, the gifts of healing. You can find a detailed testimony elsewhere.
I was introduced to the ascended masters very quickly after my initiation and receiving the gift of "healing with your hands like Jesus." And just as I could hear Jesus before from childhood, I also immediately heard the ascended masters as a medium. St Germain was funny. A bit evil in his tips, but all in all hilarious. He grins at you conspiratorially and explains that the others just don't get it. You're just further along than they are. He flatters your ego.
He comes across as subtle, lively and educated. A good companion, a buddy type. He's the chakka type. You can do it, you can overcome it, you have to learn it, you have to figure it out. You are free to become what you are and what you set out to be. He is the from dishwasher to millionaire type. He charms with his charm. He gives off a soft lavender scent, and he feels like the best buddy you can have. However, he also puts endless pressure on you. There is so much you need to do for your growth that you can't breathe. Everything is in your hands. Become free through self-forgiveness of your own weaknesses. Heal emotional wounds. Release karmic entanglements (soul ties). Dissolve curses. Zackzack, then you become big and strong. It binds in oneself and awakens the desire to fathom the world. He is hedonistic in appearance, enjoy everything, take what you need. He fixates on elitist thinking and reaching new levels of knowledge. He offers all kinds of spiritual miracle cures. Visualization, mind control, unity consciousness, protection rituals and especially Kabbalah are his hobby horses. He has the color blue-violet, in the border area. He promises everything and, of course, delivers nothing. He brings in hamster wheels and makes you run. Then again he is nice and approachable and a philosophical-spiritual companion.
As a rule, he is mistaken for the Holy Spirit.
If I look at phenomena like laughing blessings, barking and hysterical fits of laughter, which seem to be triggered by really good jokes, then this very much bears the signature of St.Germain. He appears where humanism and freemasonry are a topic, as well as alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone. He is of course, and I want to make this clear, NOT the historical Saint Germain who overcame the world by his own power. Saint Germain's tombstone was in the St. Nicolai Church in Eckernförde/Germany, where it was washed away by a storm tide. Apparently Jesus did not appreciate that one of his most powerful opponents had an honorary grave in his church. A beautiful detail that also immediately shows the difference between the humor levels. Nope, just nope. You go to your master- or: Expect your judgment. The fact that Satan uses the image of St.Germain so clearly that independently of each other esotericists describe him the same way, with the same scent, appearance, the same manner, which is slightly sly (but which one does not want to see because of his really engaging charm), leaves no doubt about the whereabouts of St. Germain.
St. Germain is revered within the Masonic lodges as a god and a role model. He is a luminous figure beyond compare and severely impressive. I know his other side, which sows discord, forces disappointments and binds in dependencies. He stirs up misunderstandings through self-aggrandizement, pride and elitist mature thinking. It blinds, makes harsh and addicted to power. Formerly loving people become more and more narcissistic. They become more self-centered, egocentric and aggressive. More loveless, more selfish in their own urge for freedom.
Honestly, there is enough here now.
Everyone may now form his own picture of the phenomena at Bethel Church, examine the healing methods for himself and ask himself: Where do I stand as a charismatic? Am I trying to control and redeem myself or am I devoted? Is Jesus still Lord for me? Can I still get the word sin past my lips? Do I still believe in Jesus as my Lord and King? Do I still serve him?
In conclusion:
There is nothing worse than religious people.
You can't breathe in such an atmosphere. It is much better to just be yourself, to know that you are saved and to run towards Jesus in freedom.
Gee, I understand better than most.
BUT: God's ways and principles, His values and His commandments are not doctrines.
That" smokers worship Satan stuff" is one, yes. That one should not steal..that one should respect others more than oneself, that one should love God above all and have no gods beside Him, that He rules through us and that we are His personal property - these are just not. The guideline and the frame is the true heart of Jesus Christ, his values , his teachings, his rules of the game. Unchangeable. Dont, folx, fall away shortly before reaching the goal.
May we not sacrifice truth on the altar of false freedom. Because if you follow him - you are free.
Do not delete the cross from the message. Never. Its the open door for inviting any form of spirits to come in.
Sibylle/Daughter of Zion