Hello Everyone,
This is an older but well done bit of writing. Berit Kjos comes through well as always.
Godspeed,
Gill Rapoza
Veritas Vos Liberabit
Schools and Global Spirituality
By Berit Kjos
“‘Tis education forms the common mind, just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.” (Alexander Pope)
“This nation has been targeted for a massive takeover. While our military experts are concentrating on bombs and missiles, a different kind of battle is being wagged for America’s heart and soul ... a battle between two supernatural beings who seek the devotion of men.” (Erwin W. Lutzer and John F. DeVries, Satan’s “Evangelistic” Strategy for This New Age)
A fifth-grade teacher in Lakewood, Colorado placed a wide assortment of books in his classroom for students to enjoy during daily reading times. When a parent complained that two of the 239 volumes were based on the Bible, the principal told teacher Ken Roberts to remove them.
On January 5, 1989 a judge upheld the school’s order to censor the two books from the classroom. In school the children could legally read books on Buddhism, Indian religions, and Greek mythology - but not on Christianity.1
In October 1988, 300 teachers and school employees m San Jose, California gathered to “improve education” with workshops and lectures on communication, relaxation, and self-esteem. One group sat cross-legged in a darkened classroom, learning how to reduce stress with yoga. While some felt self-conscious, others happily released their minds to the quieting sounds that flowed from a tape player on the desk. In the next room, another group meditated behind locked doors.2
“Tens of thousands of classroom teachers, educational consultants and psychologists, counselors, administrators ... have been among the millions engaged in personal transformation. They have only recently begun to link ... to share strategies.” (Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy)
In another California town, a third-grader pressed his fingers against his temples, shut his eyes tight, and wrinkled his face in intense concentration. He was trying to “read” the symbols touched by the teacher’s assistant seated on the other side of a large partition. On the reading instructor’s desk lay a book titled ESP.3
Masks of the New Age
The New Age is actually ancient occultism with a facelift. It is the beautiful side of evil, an enticing facade for the kingdom of darkness. Disguised as peace, power, wisdom, and love, this attractive deception pretends to offer everything God promises, yet asks nothing in return - for the moment. Its seductive call to “be like God” dates back to the Garden of Eden. God warned us long ago about deceptions, which would lead many to “abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)
Today’s most popular myth distorts the character of God and the identity of man. Unwilling to bow to a personal, sovereign God, multitudes have reshaped their Creator into an image of their own wishful thinking. This imagined god becomes an impersonal power source ready to fulfill the whims of a god-man determined to direct his own destiny.
Schools and Counterfeit Spirituality
The New Age shuns Christianity but welcomes all other religions. Each person adjusts what he already believes, adds the desired ingredients, and finds himself immersed in the counterfeit. Almost any combination works:
Ø Humanism plus supernatural power becomes New Age
Ø Hinduism plus pop psychology becomes New Age
Ø Pantheism plus confidence in human potential becomes New Age
Ø Even “cross-less Christianity” fits, if we subtract its heart - Jesus Christ and His atonement - and then add some Eastern mysticism.
The New Age is “a smorgasbord of spiritual substitutes for Christianity, all heralding our unlimited potential to transform ourselves and the planet so that a ‘New Age’ of peace, light and love will break forth.” (Doug Groothuis, “Confronting the New Age Counterfeit”)
In spite of grandiose claims by New Age leaders and the effective networking among New Age groups, we cannot give them all the credit for the phenomenal spread of this deception. That belongs to the mastermind behind the scenes, the “god of forces.” Satan has a brilliant plan and whispers or channels portions of it to any who will listen - anywhere in the world. He intends to set up global government in which he will reign unopposed through his puppet, the Antichrist. To win, he needs to recruit more soldiers. Our children are among those he has targeted.
Satan can counterfeit many of the good things God gives us. In his hands, even tools for learning can become weapons loaded with distorted messages aimed at young minds. Look at his three major thrusts toward global society:
Ø Replace biblical Christianity with a self-centered blend of all religions joined in spiritual oneness.
Ø Replace Judeo/Christian values with New Age values - anything that frees a person to follow the desires of self and create his own reality.
Ø Replace nationalism with a one-world government under a spiritually evolved leadership.
Ø War on Christianity
Humanism paved the way for the New Age, but most of us didn’t notice. Just as termites can chew away at a home’s foundations for decades before the damage shows, so humanist educators have sought to undermine the public school system. Suddenly we had to face the fact that many schools teach goals and values that contradict God’s. And that the humanist-oriented educational establishment promotes its beliefs as aggressively as any other religious group. And what might they be? John Dunphy expressed them well in his article, “A Religion for a New Age” (The Humanist, Jan/Feb 1983) Listen to their war cry:
The battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being.
These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level - preschool, day care, or large state university.
The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new - the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of “Love thy neighbor” will finally be achieved.4
American philosopher and educator John Dewey kindled the fire of educational reform. The first president of the American Humanist Association, Dewey was determined to weed out Christian absolutes and reseed with “truths” that could adjust to changing cultures. The Humanist Manifesto, which Dewey signed in 1933, declares the heart of the movement. This is part of its introduction:
There is a great danger of a final, and we believe fatal, identification on the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living in the Twentieth Century… Any religion than can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today, must be shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present.5
| Secular Humanists Believe: | Christians Believe: |
| There is no God. | We trust in a living, personal God. |
| The world is self-existing. | God created the world. |
| Everything “exists for the fulfillment of human life.” | “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” Romans 11:36 |
| “The goal… is a free and universal society” where “people cooperate for common good.” | Our goal is to “know” Christ and the “power of His resurrection.” Philippians 3:10 |
| “Man is responsible for the realization… of his dreams.” | “My salvation and my honor depend on God.” Psalm 62:7 |
| Values are relative and changing, determined by human need. | Biblical values are absolute and unchanging. Matthew 24:35 |
| Man has within himself the power to create a new world. | “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 |
Without the National Education Association, called “the nation’s most powerful political machine,” Dewey’s ideas might have been confined to university campuses. Supported by the NEA, comprised of textbook writers and superintendents as well as professors and public school teachers, Dewey’s vision spread like wildfire. Through its militant leadership, the whole educational system became involved - with or without the personal support of local educators, many of whom didn’t realize what was happening.
Few textbooks escaped the watchful eye of NEA censors, who doggedly followed Dewey’s plan to provide a “purified environment for the child.” Historical facts that clashed with “progressive education” were distorted or erased. The NEA seeks total control of curriculum content, control of teachers’ colleges, and sex education free from parental interference. Though seventy-five percent of American teachers consider themselves “moderate or conservative,” the NEA supports abortion on demand (without parental consent), Preferential treatment of homosexuals, and unilateral nuclear freeze.6
Professor Paul Vitz’s book, Censorship: Evidence of Bias in Our Children’s Textbooks, unveiled some alarming facts. Christianity, family values, and certain political and economic positions have been systematically banished from children’s textbooks. For example, in 670 stories from third- and sixth-grade readers:
Ø “No Story features Christian or Jewish religious motivation, although one story does make American Indian religion the central theme in the life of a white girl....”
Ø “Almost no story features marriage or motherhood as important or positive.... But there are many aggressively feminist stories that openly deride manhood....”
Ø In an original story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the main character prayed “to God” and later remarked “Thank God.” In the story as presented in the sixth-grade reader, the words “to God” were taken out and the expression “Thank God” was changed to “Thank goodness.”
While some elementary social studies textbooks told about Thanksgiving, they did not explain to whom the Pilgrims gave thanks. Pilgrims were defined as “people who make long trips.” The Pueblo Indians “can pray to Mother Earth - but Pilgrims can’t be described as praying to God.”7
“Overt attacks on Christianity through distortion, depreciation, and ridicule cause more damage than omissions. Many of the books students are required to read refer to boring church services, self-righteous ministers, and lustful evangelists. One psychology text equated the historical Jesus with mythological gods: “A great many myths deal with the idea of rebirth. Jesus, Dionysus, Odin, and many other traditional figures are represented as having died, after which they were reborn, or arose from the dead.”8
What happens when children are subjected to such suggestions and pressures year after year? Many yield to the hostile forces that oppose their beliefs. But God stands ready each moment to provide wisdom and strength to match the challenge. He longs to show us how to fight and win each spiritual battle. Therefore He reminds us:
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” (1 John 4:4-6)
Embracing Eastern Mysticism
Though religious in fervor and commitment, humanism failed to meet man’s spiritual needs. As the front door of the school closed to God, the back door swung wide open to New Age teaching. Disguised as stress reduction, relaxation, centering, or transpersonal education - or just tucked unnamed into a traditional curriculum - it added spiritual power to the existing man-centered program.
Few educators resisted the “positive” new approaches to learning and “wholeness.” The counterfeit god, (the Source, Force, Cosmic Consciousness, Universal Mind, Self), satisfied anti-Christian humanists, well-meaning teachers, and adventurous children. And it completed the lie. Humanist selfism added to New Age spirituality formed a plausible picture of reality - one that fit human nature and sanctioned the trappings of old-time paganism.
One of the biggest advantages we have as New Agers is, once the occult, metaphysical and New Age terminology is removed, we have concepts and techniques that are very acceptable to the general public. So we can change the names ... demonstrate the power [and] open the door to millions who normally would not be receptive. (New Age leader, Dick Sutphen, in an article entitled “Infiltrating the New Age into Society”)
Paganism? You mean drums, sensuality, orgies, and witchcraft? Right. However, the New Age preferred to hide its dark, sinister side until it had popularized its light, appealing side. Introduced in disarmingly noble and affirming terms, the counterfeit fooled all but those who had studied the genuine. Notice its enticing similarities to biblical truth, as well as its striking contradictions.
| The Counterfeit | Biblical Truth | God Also Says… |
| 1. All is one: No distinction between God and man (Monism). God and Satan are merely two sides of the unified whole. | “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male no female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 | “You shall have no other gods before Me” Exodus 20:3. “Every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will confess to God.” Romans 14:11 |
| 2. All is god. God is an impersonal force flowing through each person, animal, plant, or thing (pantheism, but can easily appear as polytheism). | “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Romans 1:20 | “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.” Romans 1:25 |
| 3. Man is god. God dwells in each person as his inner Self, a divine Source of all wisdom and power. | “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20 | “This is what the Lord says… ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other.’” Isaiah 45:1, 5 |
| 4. Through changed consciousness, man evolves spiritually, gains awareness of his divine identity, and reaches self-realization. | “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 | “In later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1 |
| 5. All religions are one. If any (like Christianity) is exclusive and refuses to agree, it commits the sin of separatism. | “I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me.” John 17:22-23 | “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers… What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?… For we are the temple of the living God… Therefore come out from them and be separate.” 2Corinthians 6:14-17 |
| 6. Cosmic evolution requires faith (such as: “the force is with us”) and the spiritual participation of enough people to create a “critical mass.” | “According to your faith will it be done to you” Matthew 9:29. “May they be brought to complete unity.” John 17:23 | “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 |
| 7. A new world order (globalism) requires a one world government, ruler, religion, and economy. | “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:16 | “He also forced everyone… to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no could buy or sell unless he had the mark… His number is 666.” Revelation 13:16, 18 |
Many American classrooms have become workshops where children can learn and practice New Age precepts. While some well-meaning teachers turn to meditation and guided imagery just because “it works,” others base their actions on personal faith in New Age doctrines. Those who believe in oneness with the cosmic source of peace, wisdom, and creativity see an obvious way to help their students: Connect them to the Source!
Some teachers who forbid prayer to Jesus Christ in their classrooms see nothing wrong with Hindu-based meditational exercises that connect young minds with other gods.
Deborah Rozman trains teachers. An educational consultant and a transpersonal psychology instructor, she has written a teaching manual titled Meditating with Children. In her book, she thanks “the Universal Mother of Compassion found in all of nature ... and Paramahansa Yogananda.” She dedicates the book to “all children, everywhere, that they may evolve towards their spiritual destiny.”9
Rozman’s meditations delight teachers, quiet children, and invoke a dangerous spiritual force. Consider this drill. The children sit cross-legged in a circle on the floor and discuss the nature of spiritual energy. They straighten their backs so the “energy from the Source within can flow up ... our spine into our brain.”10 The teacher then is supposed to lead the children in a visualization exercise. One begins: “Sitting very still with eyes closed ... imagine that you are floating out of your spiritual eye (the point between the eyebrows) and into the leaf of the plant ... feel the oneness of the source of all life everywhere....”11
Or she may use this visualization: “Meditate and go into the Source within, and in that One Source feel that you are One with everyone else’s Light, Intelligence, Love, and Power... Chant ‘Om’ softly to fill the whole circle and the whole room with your experience of the Source within.”12
The final step invites the children to extend their arms and be channels “for healing energy from the Source through you to another.” The teacher tells the children to “feel energy traveling from the Center within down the arm and out ... into the object or person.” She explains that this is a way they “can help each other feel better.”13
With each session, the children risk taking another step toward spiritual bondage. Few teachers realize that any contact with the occult can open the door to demonic strongholds and oppression. Involving spiritual forces and channeling their power usually results in blindness to God, and a wide range of oppressive personality changes.
“Since New Age visualization techniques are identical to the techniques used by spiritualists to contact demons, the unwary initiate ends up suffering from much more than what any human power is able to deliver him from.” (Paul Bartz, editor, Bible-Science Newsletter)
Stephanie Herzog first heard Ms. Rozman speak about meditation at a school district in-service meeting. Impressed, she began using meditation in her own classroom the next day. To avoid criticism from parents, she called it “centering” and “concentrating our energies.”14
After years of unhindered classroom meditation, Ms. Herzog wrote her own book promoting these spiritual exercises. Its title, Joy in the Classroom, illustrates the appeal of New Age deception. She claims that the student can find joy, peace, wisdom, and strength (the counterfeit of God’s promises) by enjoyable, seductive exercises that raise his consciousness and connect him with his true God-Self.
Such programs may be called confluent or wholistic education, transpersonal psychology, affective education, and accelerated learning. They are usually presented as stress management, suicide prevention, or self-esteem programs.
In addition to the possibility of occult bondage, children face a subtle challenge to their faith. If they learn that their God-given imagination can produce the reality they desire, why follow Jesus Christ? If pleasant meditations can connect them with the cosmic god, why choose the Cross? Their spiritual needs are being met - so it seems.
This inoculation against Christianity, together with the dangers of overt occult practices, calls parents to action. We need to know what schools are teaching our children. Dr. Shirley Correll, herself an educator, shares our concern about the newer forms of education. She describes a program called Quieting Reflex and Success Imagery:
“Trusting children are psychologically manipulated into involvement with spirit guides, Eastern religion, hypnosis, altered states of consciousness, and occult activities forbidden to Christians.
“In one case, a little girl refused to pray in the name of Jesus after her imaginary wise person, or spirit guide, directed her not to. Children are often subtly conditioned not to discuss these programs with their parents, and some children are reluctant to admit the program’s existence.”15
Many textbooks, while silent on the subject of Christianity, don’t hesitate to teach Buddhism and Hinduism. A World Cultures text even told students to pretend for several days that they were Hindus.,,16 A Health Guidance text devoted several pages to the process and benefits of Eastern meditation. Picturing a teenage girl in Yoga position, it defined meditation as “a technique used to alter the states of consciousness and trigger relaxation response.”17
A high school speech teacher in Mountain View, California told his students to give impromptu talks on the topic, “What I want to be in my next life.”18 Did he assume that reincarnation is now generally accepted among the youth?
This embrace of spiritual propaganda reaches beyond the bright side of the New Age. Defiantly challenging the patience of God and the cruel power of Satan, many schools dare welcome even the dark occult. In their informative book What Are They Teaching Our Children?, Mel and Norma Gabler tell about a “witch license application” they discovered in a sixth-grade skills handbook. It first described the bizarre behavior of witches, then asked: “Suppose that you wanted to pursue a career as a witch. These days you might have to apply for a license and perhaps even join a witches’ union. In any case, by filling out an application your aptitude for witchcraft could be evaluated.” With the application came questions such as, “What words would you use to cast a spell?” and “What is your favorite formula for a witches’ brew?”
Most students wouldn’t have to search far to find answers. One thirteen-year-old boy shocked his uncle, who happened to be an ex-warlock, by showing him a book titled Curses, Hexes and Spells. Filled with detailed incantations and “everyday curses,” it came from the Gladewater, Texas Middle School library.19
An increasing number of schools are telling students to research the occult, to role-play occult fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and to seek esoteric knowledge through horoscopes, I Ching, and Ouija boards. Needless to say, the children are playing with an incredible fire that neither they nor their teachers can control.
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2.9-12)
Victory begins with knowing and loving God and His truth. From the living Word, our children will learn genuine wisdom, discern evil, conquer giants, walk in peace, and experience God’s freedom!
Gill Rapoza
Veritas Vos Liberabit
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