The Accuser of the Brethren

Overcome and Cast Down

 

A selected excerpt from J.C. Philpot's sermon "THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN OVERCOME AND CAST DOWN," preached on Lord's Day morning, August 15, 1852, at Eden Street Chapel, Hamstead Road, England. 

"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven. Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." 

(Rev 12:10,11)

I. Satan is here represented as the "accuser of the brethren."
Satan does not "accuse" the world; he leaves it alone. Whilst a man is under his power and dominion, he will not molest or frighten him. Nay, so far from accusing such he will rather excuse them. He will palliate sin in every possible way before committed, to make it more readily indulged; and will excuse it after, to blunt the stings of remorse. But of "the brethren," the people of God, Satan is the unwearied, inveterate, unrelenting accuser.

He is said, here, to "accuse them before God day and night." ...[W]hen the saints come before God, then and there [Satan] accuses them. This we find true in soul experience. Be engaged in your lawful calling, have no thought of God or godliness, Satan is quiet; he does not then accuse you. But be in the presence of God, come before Him, as we read of David, that "he went and sat before the Lord," then Satan begins to accuse. There are six different sacred employments in which we may be said "to sit before the Lord":

• secret prayer 
• worshiping in God’s tabernacles 
• reading the Scriptures 
• communing with our own heart 
• conversing with the people of God 
• and partaking of the Lord’s Supper. 

In each and all of these does Satan fulfill this malignant office of accusing the brethren.

1. But an accuser must have a spot whereon to stand, a court wherein he may lay his charges. This court is the court of conscience. There he brings his charges; there he files his pleas; there he exercises all his malicious eloquence and all his powers of argument to bring in the sentence "guilty of death." But without pleas an accuser is powerless. The eloquence of an advocate is nothing unless sustained by proofs. The accuser of the brethren is not wanting here. His pleas he arranges under two heads; and accuses the brethren sometimes as Law sinners, and sometimes as Gospel sinners.

But it is worthy of observation that Satan’s charges are not random accusations. They are always based upon truth. This gives them force and edge. It is true that "when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it;" but there is this peculiarity in Satan’s lies -- that there is truth for their basis. Have you never observed this in worldly things? For a slander to obtain currency there must be some truth in it. A complete, thorough falsehood has no legs to stand upon; to run abroad and to enter into house after house, it must have limbs of truth, though head and body be a lie....

So Satan comes with a groundwork of truth. If he had no word of truth in his lips he could have no hold upon the conscience. Thus when the law seizes the sinner by the throat, and says, "Pay me that thou owest," Satan takes up its heavy charges, puts poignancy into them, and urges them with vehemence upon the conscience. Here is his main strength. When the Law pours out its curses, and the sentence of death connected with disobedience to it enters into the conscience, the soul under that sentence must fall down before it, must plead guilty. The charges are so true, and so backed by the authority of God, that there is no denying or getting away from them.

Here then is the ground of truth on which Satan plants his foot: "You know," says he, "that you have broken the Law; that you have never loved the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, and mind, and strength, nor your neighbour as yourself. Look at the breadth and spirituality, the claims and extent, the holiness and perfection of the Law, reaching to the thoughts and intents of the heart; and see the awful curse attached to every man who continueth not in all points to observe it in heart, lip, and life. But you have broken it again and again, in thought, word, and deed."

All this is true, most true; and the accusation, therefore, cannot be denied nor evaded. But on this groundwork of truth comes Satan’s lying conclusion -- "For you there is no hope; despair must be your everlasting portion. A sinner like you never can be forgiven. The Law of God curses you; and under that curse you will surely lie to all eternity."

When suffering under these accusations, the difficulty is to distinguish between the voice of God and the voice of Satan; because the accuser of the brethren imitates the voice of God, and thus takes up and backs the sentence pronounced by the Lord’s mouth. But herein is the enemy discovered that from true premises he draws false conclusions. Here Satan’s cloven loot is detected. Because you have broken God’s Law, and because it curses you, are you to be eternally lost? Satan says, yes; but God says, no. God applies the Law to bring you out of self-righteousness; Satan urges the Law to drive you to despair. God sends it into your conscience to bring you to Christ; Satan sounds its threatenings to bring you to blaspheme; God condemns you by it to save you eventually into heaven; Satan condemns you by it to hurl your soul into hell.

2. But Satan can, and does accuse the brethren of sins against the Gospel, as well as of sins against the Law. When the Lord has spoken a measure of peace to the conscience, given the soul deliverance from law charges, and enabled it to receive the love of the truth, and to taste, in faith and feeling, something of the sweetness of the Gospel, Satan is so far baffled. He slinks away. But he has not exhausted his quiver, nor parted with all his stock. Like an Old Bailey lawyer, he knows all the quirks and quillets of the law; and his tongue sometimes smooth and oily, sometimes loud and thundering, whispering one while like a serpent, and roaring at another like a lion, can plead that white is black and black is white, to suit his purposes and confuse the soul.

When, then, after a taste of the Lord’s goodness and mercy, we depart from him, Satan brings his Gospel charges. It is unhappily too true that after received mercy, when the Lord has in some measure withdrawn His gracious presence, the soul backslides from Him, grows cold and lifeless, perhaps even slips into some inconsistency, and says or does something that makes sad work in the conscience. Through this breach Satan enters, and lays his accusations. "If you were a child of God, you could not have acted so. No one who had tasted that the Lord was gracious ever departed from Him as you have done. They are all kept; for ‘He keepeth the feet of his saints.’ You therefore cannot be one. You are a Gospel sinner, whose doom is more dreadful than a Law sinner. The hottest place in hell is for hypocrites like you."

Such and similar are Satan’s accusations;... so far based upon truth that the charges themselves cannot be denied. It is in the conclusions which Satan draws that the falsehood lies. There is the serpent hiss. Yield not then to Satan’s conclusions. Admit the charge; for that is too clear to be denied; plead guilty; -- that we must ever do; but do not yield to his conclusions, and cast away your hope.

Because we have slipped, have backslidden, have neglected and forsaken the God of all our mercies, have in many things sadly erred, listened too often to the tempter, and walked too much after our idols, is there no hope? Surely this is not true. Therefore, I say, admit all Satan’s accusations, but do not admit his conclusions. You have not rejected nor despised the Gospel, counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, nor done despite to the Spirit of grace. You may be a backslider, but are not a Gospel sinner.

Remember too that it is before God that Satan accuses the brethren. When acting inconsistently he does not accuse them; but when they return to the Lord with weeping and supplications, then he pleads against them all their filthiness and folly. See this in the case of Joshua the high priest. It was when he was standing before the angel of the Lord that Satan stood at his right hand to resist him. (Zec 3:1). He pointed, doubtless, to the smoke of the fire of temptation which had blackened the brand, and to the filthy garments in which he stood clothed. There was truth in the charge. He was a blackened brand; but the Lord had snatched him half burnt through from the fire; he  was clothed with filthy ragments; but the command was, "Take away the filthy garments from him," Thus was Satan baffled, confounded, and put to flight.

II. But we find that the blessed saints and martyrs of old were enabled to overcome this accuser of the brethren.
The accuser of the brethren was cast down. His feet slipped and fell. "He fled, and with him fled the shades of night." The brethren gained the victory. But how? "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

The weapons which the Holy Ghost put into their hands, and gave them strength to wield, were three

1. The Blood of the Lamb
2. The Word of their Testimony -and
3. The Spirit of Martyrdom.

The saints and martyrs did not overcome Satan by denying his charges: that they could not do, for their consciences compelled them to admit their truth. This gave Satan such firm ground; for who can stand against the verdict of his own conscience? Nor did they overcome him by pleading their weakness against sin, and their inability to resist temptation. Nor did they vanquish him by alleging the force of example in others; nor by palliating their guilt as comparatively small; nor by promising reformation present or future; nor by quoting God’s decrees as necessarily influencing their conduct. They well knew that Leviathan would count such darts as stubble, and would laugh at the shaking of such a spear. All such iron he would esteem as straw, and all such brass as rotten wood. They dropped, therefore, all such carnal, useless weapons, and betook themselves to those alone which they knew would obtain for them the victory.

i. The first was, "The blood of the Lamb." How was this weapon effectual? Because the blood of the Lamb proclaims pardon and peace; and therefore sweeps away Satan’s conclusion, that the accused being guilty, condemnation must necessarily follow.

The expression, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb," implies that it was a weapon in their hands, firmly wielded in their grasp. When David overcame the champion of the Philistines by a sling and a stone, the sling was not hanging up in the sheepcote, nor was the pebble lying in the bed of the brook. It was not the blood of the Paschal lamb in the basin, but sprinkled on the lintel and side posts, which preserved Israel in Egypt from the destroying angel. Thus it is not the blood of the Lamb as revealed in the Word of God, but as applied to and sprinkled on the conscience, which answers the accusations of Satan. But we may observe that there is our coming unto the blood of sprinkling, and there is the blood of sprinkling coming unto us. The apostle speaks Heb 12:22,24 "Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel." This coming to the blood is the first step in gaining the victory.

In Christian warfare, defeat generally, if not always, precedes conquest. It is not therefore so easy to overcome sin, death, and hell, which are all striving against us; and usually we never look to the right quarter for help until well nigh all hope is gone. The first gleam generally comes from a view of the blood of the Lamb.... The blessed Spirit shines upon the Word, and raises up faith in the soul to believe that the Lamb has been slain, that blood has been shed, that a sacrifice has been offered, and that a new and living way has been opened and consecrated, through the veil -- the rent flesh of the Lord Jesus. This affords the accused soul some foothold, on which it can stand, and return an answer to Satan’s accusations. "True," it says, "I am a guilty wretch. I am a sinner, and the chief of sinners; for I have sinned against light, against convictions, against conscience, and the fear of God. My heart is altogether evil, my mind wholly corrupt, and my nature utterly depraved. I have never done any one good thing. I am a wretch, and the worst of wretches; and I can never say anything too bad of myself nor others of me. But with all that, the Lamb of God hath shed His precious blood, and that blood cleanseth from all sin."  

"When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord," we read, "shall lift up a standard against him." The standard which he lifts up is the blood-stained flag of the crucified Redeemer. To come for refuge and shelter under this banner dipped in blood, is to make head against Satan’s accusations.

Still the victory is not fully gained. It is only when there is a coming of the blood into the heart, a sprinkling of it on the conscience, a manifestation and application of it to the soul that Satan is effectually put to flight. "They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb;" but he was not effectually put to the rout till he saw the blood on the conscience, as the angel of death saw in Egypt the blood on the lintel.

ii. But they had another weapon -"The word of their testimony." This, I believe, is the Word that God had put into their heart. It is, therefore, called "the word of their testimony," because truly and emphatically theirs. It is not called the word of the testimony, nor the word of God’s testimony, but "the word of their testimony." ...This is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;" not a sword sheathed, but a sword bare and naked, ready for use. The Word which God is pleased to speak to your soul is the grand weapon which you must never give up. Satan will accuse you of every sin; and when he has got you down, he would soon make an end of you if God did not interfere and succour you.

[Satan] knows where to hit us. We have most of us weak points, where a slight blow tells, much more a heavy one. A besetting sin, or a prevailing infirmity, or a former inconsistency, or an experience defective in some particular, or an unbelieving frame, are in grace what a weak limb or asthmatic lungs are in nature. Satan directs his artillery where the fortress is most assailable. Do you never hear the hissing of his red-hot shot? "Can the fear of God be in your soul when you are so much like the world? Why did you ever make a profession? Would it not have been better for you to have been altogether in the world than to act as you have acted? Look at your daily walk and conversation; what a poor, barren, stupid wretch you are! You are now almost asleep, sitting there without life or feeling. It is true when you get into trials you begin to rouse up and call upon God; but this is no mark of grace, for the ungodly we read, call upon God when distress and anguish come upon them."

How then are these cruel charges to be met? Thus; "It is true; I admit it all; and I am worse than you can make or paint me. But has not God spoken this and that Word to my soul? Did he not give me this or that promise? Have I not had this and that manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ? Did I not hear with power on that memorable day, when my heart was so broken and melted? Did not tears of mingled joy and sorrow gush forth from my eyes, and gladness, blended with contrition, fill my heart?"

When the Word of God is thus believed, laid hold of, and firmly abided by at all risks and hazards, it brings victory. Thus the martyrs lived and died. They threw away all weapons but the Word of God, the power of which they had felt in their conscience. This they handled and wielded, as the life-guardsman handles and wields his own sword. He is not at home with any other. The handle from use fits his hand as if the two grew together. So must the promises and Truth of God be felt to be your own, if you are to use them effectually against your adversary. You cannot fight Satan with any other weapon; for you cannot hold it firmly enough....

iii. But they had another weapon still, the mention of which is a special allusion to the ancient martyrs --"They loved not their lives unto the death!" This weapon we may call therefore the spirit of martyrdom. Now, in what does that spirit consist? In total self-renunciation. How did the martyrs die in Smithfield? We read in Fox’s Book of Martyrs that many men, women, and even children died in those burning flames in triumph. But did they come to those flames in their own strength or righteousness? No! They went all weakness and helplessness; but relying upon the power of God, they renounced all earthly things for his name’s sake, even life itself: "They loved not their lives unto the death." They parted with name, fame, worldly goods, life itself, and counted it as nothing in comparison with the truth of God and the profession of his glorious gospel. Such times may come again; and if so, there will doubtless be similar witnesses -- in themselves all weakness, but in Christ all strength.

...There is another arena [of persecutions] -- the Christian’s heart. We must carry in our bosom the spirit of martydom, just as much as though we were called upon to die at the stake. The Lord Jesus said, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it;" (Mt 10:39) and again, "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."

...The renunciation of life implies the renunciation of self; and this includes the renunciation of all creature strength, wisdom, and righteousness. Look at the Smithfield martyrs. What creature strength had they in the flame? what natural wisdom to answer their accusers? what fleshly righteousness to stand in before God? All that was of self and earth was renounced in renouncing life. This baffled Satan. He thought the flames would make them recant; and took advantage of threatened death to urge more vehemently his accusations. What was their answer? That of the three children who were cast by Nebuchadnezzar into the burning fiery furnace. "I cannot give up the truth. I cannot deny the Lord. Come heaven, come hell, I will not belie my conscience." This was Satan’s last assault. When he could not carry the city by storm, he raised the siege. Have the martyr’s spirit, and you will win the martyr’s victory.


III. This brings us to its blessed consequences.  
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ." The loud voice denotes that there were witnesses of this solemn conflict. "We are made a spectacle," says the apostle, "unto the world, and to angels, and to men." We are not fighting the battle without witnesses. As the apostle speaks in another place; "Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." A cloud of heavenly spectators surrounds the battlefield, watching with intense interest the struggle; and when Satan flees, they lift up the victorious shout-- "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ."

These heavenly blessings had not "come" before -- that is, in clear, bright, undeniable manifestation. They were in the mind of God, in His eternal purpose; but they had not come into visible being, into inward and personal experience, into soul realization and blessed enjoyment. It is in vain for the children of God to expect a victory without a battle. Some people talk as if heaven was to be obtained without a struggle; as if sin, Satan, the Law, and conscience fled at the first charge, before a sword was flushed or blood drawn....

But why "NOW?" Because till Satan was cast down and overcome, these heavenly blessings were not come into the heart.

1. "Salvation," What salvation? Salvation by grace, full and free; salvation without any intermixture of creature righteousness; salvation gushing from the bosom of God; salvation flowing wholly and solely through the blood of the Lamb. But salvation never can be tasted unless there has been a previous foretaste of condemnation. Heaven can never be looked up into before there has been a looking down into the wicket gate of hell. There must have been an experience of guilt before there can be the enjoyment of pardon. 

"Now is come salvation." From what? From the accusations of Satan, the curses of the law, the fear of death, the terrors of hell, and sentence of damnation. And how does salvation come? Whilst the battle is going on; whilst the issue is doubtful; whilst hand to hand, foot to foot, and shoulder to shoulder, Satan and the soul are engaged in deadly strife, there is no felt experience of salvation. There may be hope; and this enables the soldier to stand his ground; but there is no shout of victory till the enemy is put to flight. But when Satan is defeated, his accusations silenced, and the soul liberated, then is "come salvation." The sweetest song that ever heaven proclaimed, the most blessed note that ever melted the soul, is "salvation."

To be saved! saved from death and hell; saved from the worm which dieth not, and the fire which is not quenched; saved from the sulphurous flames of the bottomless pit; saved from the companionship of tormenting fiends and of all the foul wretches under which earth has groaned; saved from blaspheming God in unutterable woe; saved from an eternity of misery without end or hope! And saved into heaven! into the sight of Jesus as He is; into perfect holiness and happiness; into the blissful company of holy angels and glorified saints; and all this during the countless ages of a blessed eternity! What tongue of men or angels can describe the millionth part of what is contained in the word "salvation"?

2. "And strength." There was no strength before, at least no felt, realized, enjoyed strength. Sin was too strong, Satan too powerful, his accusations too weighty, and the conscience too guilty for the struggling soul to realize strength. When the soldier in battle is bathed in sweat and blood, scarcely able from weariness to move hand or foot, and his sword is only kept in his hand by the blood and gore which glue them together, he fights in weakness, unconscious of strength. So the soul, when fighting with sin and Satan, fights on when ready to drop. It is all weakness then. But with salvation comes "strength," --strength to believe, strength to hope, and strength to love, strength to bless and praise the Lord, and shout victory over the flying foe. Then there is strength to credit the promise and perform the precept; to walk in the ways of God and submit to the will of God; and to run the way of His commandments with an enlarged heart.

3. "And the kingdom of our God." This too was little known before. The kingdom of God is an inward kingdom, and it is set up in the heart of a people made willing in the day of His power. It consists, therefore, in the dethroning of sin, Satan, and self, and in the setting up of Jesus as sovereign of the heart and Lord of the affections. Till Satan is cast out and the conscience cleansed from his accusations, Jesus cannot sit upon His inward throne. But with salvation to deliver, and strength to believe, comes the kingdom of God; and Christ is crowned upon the battle field -- elevated like the kings of old upon the shields of the conquerors.

4. And with this comes "the power of Christ." This all-mighty, all-victorious power was not fully known before. How earnestly did the apostle desire "to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection;" how little is known of "the power of His Christ," what Christ has done, what Christ can do! But when salvation comes, and strength, and the kingdom of God, then too is known "the power of His Christ," His crucified Christ, His risen Christ, His glorified Christ, His interceding Christ; of Christ at the right hand of God, "King of kings and Lord of lords;" ruling, guiding, directing, upholding all things in heaven and earth.

This power Christ often withholds for a time that the soul may learn its weakness. When pressed hard with Satan’s accusations, little comparatively is known what Christ can do for the soul; how he can repel Satan, answer every charge, fight its battles, and support the fainting spirit. Till the enemy is fled, and the field of battle gone over, His power is not often fully known. The number of the slain reveals the fury of the foe. But this too makes known the power of the Conqueror. "Who is this," asks the Church, "that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?" "I," answers the Lord, "that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

"Salvation, strength, the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ!" These are great things, blessed things. In them lies the very marrow of vital godliness -- the very essence of that religion which God the Spirit sets up in the heart. But do you not observe their close and intimate connection with martyrdom and suffering? Do not separate them. Do not think that the whole of religion consists in reading, hearing, praying, and attending to the ordinances of the Gospel. All this is well; but salvation, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ are not tied to outward observances.

0 how mysterious is true religion! How supernatural! how opposed to all preconceived ideas, or conclusions of the natural mind!...

Is Satan in our day less active? Is the heart of man better now than it was then? Has God devised of late years some new road to heaven other than that in which these blessed saints [and martyrs] walked in their day and generation? The Bible would not be true; the experience of God’s people would be false; the tears that they shed; the sighs they heave; the cries, prayers, and groans that they pour forth for deliverance, would be all so many fancies, whims of a heated brain, not deep soul realities.

If heaven were gained at so easy a price, so facile a rate, heaven’s courts would be filled with a motley throng who had not learnt the song of Moses and the Lamb. Half round the throne would be sufferers, and half would be doers; martyrs singing praise to the Redeemer, and workers chanting anthems to self. But have we any choice in this matter?... It is all according to God’s own eternal purpose. He has appointed a certain path in which His children are to walk; He takes their feet with His own hands, and puts them into the path; and if they are diverging from it He puts them into it back again. It is "through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom;" and He has never yet recalled that Word.

There may be those here who are suffering under the accusations of Satan so as sometimes to be almost without hope. All their religion seems gone, and they have no firm ground to stand upon. They feel to have so sinned against God, that it seems impossible for Him to forgive them. Now you may depend upon it, that you are not traveling alone in this road, but have more fellow travelers than you are perhaps aware of. Then be not dismayed if you find Satan or your own conscience -- and you cannot always distinguish between them -- accusing you before God day and night. Cast not away your hope if in secret prayer you feel a load of guilt upon your conscience. Be not dismayed if, when you come before God, thousands of charges are brought against you, and it seems almost presumptuous in you to open your lips before Him.

See how these blessed martyrs were accused, and yet they came off victorious? Their weapons must be yours -- "The blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and the loving not of their lives unto the death." Search and examine well your experience. Have you never had some view of the blood of the Lamb? Has it never been sprinkled on your conscience? Have you not had some views of it by faith so as to come unto it and hide your guilty soul under it? Have you never come to "the blood of sprinkling" by faith? This was the first turn of the fight. And has the Lord never spoken a word to your soul? Have you never had a testimony in your conscience, been melted in prayer, softened and blessed? Have you never had a sweet promise dropped into your heart? Did not this give, whilst it lasted, a measure of relief to your conscience, and in some degree answer the cruel accusations of Satan? And have you not renounced all your own righteousness, and felt willing to die if you were sure of your interest in Christ? These were the weapons whereby the martyrs conquered.

We read nothing here of their own righteousness, or consistency, or piety, or holiness, or resolutions, or good words and works. Nothing is said to the high praise and glory of self. The only three weapons here mentioned are the blood of the Lamb, the Word of their testimony, and the spirit of martyrdom. And these three weapons are found more or less in the armoury of every child of God....

Look not then to any other quarter for help or hope; but trust wholly and solely to the Lord, who can bring you through every trial and difficulty, and give you to live in His glorious presence for ever.


*This post of this sermon has been quite abridged, and has several minor modifications to the text for modern blog usage. The original is posted in its entirety at this webpage: http://www.truegospel.net/Philpot/093.htm. 

Graphic at top of page: Court of the Kings Bench, depicting an old English court and court dress. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Court_of_King%27s_Bench.JPG. Second graphic is from the movie Anatomy of a Murder depicting an intense courtroom scene archived HERE. 

Walking with God

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
Amos 3:3

Selected excerpts from a message by J.C. Philpot*
Preached at North Street Chapel, Stanford,
on Lord’s Day Morning, Jan. 23, 1859


The Lord here, under the form of a question, enunciates a very important and pregnant truth. “Can two walk together,” He asks, “except they be agreed?” What must be the inevitable reply? Surely not. Unless agreed in heart, how can they walk together in person? But do we see this agreement as a substantial fact, or as a general case? Look at man and his brother man. Take men as they exist in this present world. Can we say that they are agreed, or, that being agreed, they walk together? The very physical features of the world, in its original formation as well as present constitution, widely separate man from man. What lofty mountains, deep rivers, wide seas, and barren tracts, naturally, physically sever men asunder! But these natural barriers of division are as nothing compared with the way in which man is separated morally from man. What differences there are of language, habits, manners, customs, religion, modes of thought, so that, were earth a level plain and communication as free as in this island, separation and division would still exist. Politically, too, how man is dissevered from man.... Socially, too, how man is separated from his brother man! Rich and poor; the educated and the uneducated; the peer and the peasant; Dives clothed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, and Lazarus at his gate, full of sores and picking up the crumbs which fall from the groaning table—are the poles wider asunder.... “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

But this is the least of the matter. It would not be of such deep or lasting importance were man only dissociated from his brother man.... But we come to a much more important breach, a much wider and more fatal separation, than any at which we have hitherto hinted.

There is the fearful, fatal breach between God and man, which is not for time but for eternity; not a matter of earth but of heaven; not a momentary strife or passing quarrel, bounded by a few days or years, and limited to the narrow sphere of this transitory life, but stretching forward into revolving ages. Well then may God, from heaven His dwelling-place, look down upon earth, and addressing man, sound the startling appeal in his ears — “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” — Can I and you then walk together in friendship and amity—I so holy, thou so unholy; I so pure, thou so impure; I so enshrined in all the glory of My infinite perfections, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, and thou a child of sin and darkness, loathsome and vile as wrapped up in all the pollutions of thy sinful nature and actual crimes?

But is there not a way whereby God and man can walk together?

• Do we not read in the word of truth that “Enoch walked with God?” (Gen. 5:24); and have we not recorded of him that “before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God?” (Heb. 11:5). Have not holy men in various ages followed Enoch’s footsteps? 
• Did not Noah “walk with God?” and why? because “he found grace [or favor] in the eyes of the Lord,” (Gen. 6:8, 9). 
• Was not Abraham the friend of God? (2 Chron. 20:7; Jam.2:23). 
• Did not Moses see God face to face? and did not the Lord “speak unto him as a man speaketh unto his friend?” (Ex. 33:11). 
• Of Levi, too, we read that “he walked with God in peace and equity,” (Mal. 2:6, 7). 

We see, then, that there have been men who have walked with God; and if they did walk with God, it was by virtue of being agreed with Him. But is there no way whereby others also may now walk with God as these walked of old? Were they the only favored children of the human race, and are none but they admitted to any communion with the Lord God Almighty....

At the first, in the original creation of man, there was no breach between man and his Maker. “God created man in His own image, after His own likeness;” and as “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good,” (Gen. 1:31), He could not but be pleased with man as the creature of His hands. Man could then render to God a pure obedience, acceptable to Him as the spontaneous, grateful offering of an innocent heart and spotless hands....

...We have reason to believe, from what we read in the book of Genesis, that God his Maker often communed with man His creature; for we read of His walking in the garden in the cool of the day, as if it had been the habit of God to come down and talk with Adam face to face, as the day declined from the heat of noon, and the calm evening drew on in that happy garden in which he was placed to dress and keep it. There was no breach, then, no separation, no division between God and man.

But Satan envied man’s happiness, and secretly plotted his overthrow. To see man promoted to that nearness to God whence he had fallen, stung him to the quick. Fearing to succeed with man, he attacked, with subtle craft and infernal policy, the woman, man’s partner, but from natural constitution a weaker and easier prey. In the depths of His inscrutable wisdom, God permitted Satan to succeed. The woman was tempted and fell, and in her fall tempted and drew in the man. But both fell willfully and voluntarily, openly rebelled against the express command of God, and deliberately preferred to sin rather than to obey. This made the breach, set God and man at strife, and severed and separated, as with a deadly blow, the creature from the Creator. Thus “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that [“in whom,” margin] all have sinned,” (Rom. 5:12).

Ever since then, there has been a strife between God and man—between the Creator and the creature of His hands. Now this strife or breach exists in the very nature of things. It might indeed have been prevented if God had so willed; but having once taken place, no power could avert the effects. It would not be consistent with the purity and perfection of God’s character, that man should have sinned against Him without a breach being effected. There is a natural, instinctive repugnance between what is holy and what is unholy; what is righteous and what is unrighteous; what is pure and what is impure....

If there were no such breach, purity would become impurity, sin would become confounded with holiness, and God Himself cease to be God. Therefore, whilst the great and glorious Jehovah is what He is, so holy, pure, and righteous, there must necessarily be a breach between God and man. Now this breach, so far from becoming narrower, goes on increasing wider and wider. The more pure that God is, and the more impure man makes or manifests himself to be, the wider the breach becomes. This was shown at the deluge, at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and at the destruction of Jerusalem. The greater the sin the wider the breach; and as the very nature of sin is to go on increasing, burning like a fire in proportion to every fresh accession of fuel, there is no hope that this gulf can ever of itself close up. Nor can all the skill, wisdom, or invention of men or angels combined do anything to heal the breach.

Men think, in the darkness of their mind, that sin is but a little thing—a matter of very small moment; and they have therefore invented a number of words to palliate and soften it, so as to diminish its aggravated character. Satan has led them to reduce sin to a minimum, and thus persuades them that it is not that evil and dreadful thing which the Word of God has declared it to be; at any rate, that they need not make themselves very uneasy about the consequences, as God is very merciful and will always accept a sincere repentance. Man may so flatter himself, and, being thus blinded and deceived, may go on heaping iniquity upon iniquity; but he will find at last to his confusion and dismay that words have not altered things; that the wrath of God burns against sin to the lowest hell; that the justice of God is arrayed against the criminal, and that “every transgression and disobedience will receive a just recompense of reward.”...

A company of sinners may argue like a company of thieves— “Why cannot we get drunk, if we like, or indulge in those passions which spring from, and are imbedded in our very nature? Is a cheerful glass a crime? Is love a sin? I own I am rather unsteady, but am I to be sent to hell for a little unsteadiness?” “Why should I be hanged?” may the murderer with similar justice say. “In my passion I struck him rather hard, or grasped his throat too tight; but I never meant to kill him. How cruel to hang me for a mere fit of passion!” You see the folly of such excuses in a moment, and know that the law is deaf to all such futile pleas. And yet we see on every side a company of sinners arraying themselves against the justice of God, as a company of thieves may inveigh against the justice of man. Now which is to prevail? You say the law must. God says the same!...

Thus we see the eternal justice of God, the holiness of His righteous character, the intrinsic purity of His very being, all arrayed against sin and the sinner. And we know who must come down in this warfare. We need no voice from heaven to tell us who is the stronger. The thief may escape immediate arrest, and spend in profligacy the gains of violence and crime; and the murderer may die in his bed; but not so the sinner. There is an eye that tracks him through all the shady covert; there is a hand that can and will in due time arrest and bring him to justice. However the long-suffering of God may wait, if he die without faith and repentance, the thunderbolt of divine wrath will one day light upon his head and strike him down into a justly deserved hell.

We are all without exception sinners before God. However we may seek to justify ourselves or palliate the case, it still remains a fearful fact—a terrible noose out of which we cannot by any art or craft, plan or policy, draw our head. We are thus like a man who has committed a dreadful crime: he may try to juggle with his own conscience, to evade the fact, to palliate the deed, to extenuate the circumstances, or harden himself against the consequences. Still there is the dreadful fact: the crime has been committed; the deed of blood has been done; under yonder hedge, in that dark pool, the murdered victim lies; and every gaping wound cries out against the murderer. So it is in a spiritual sense with every one of us. We have all sinned against God; we have in innumerable instances broken His holy law; we have brought ourselves under its righteous sentence; we are, by original and actual transgression, exposed to its awful curse. Like the murderer, we may seek to palliate the case, but the fact still remains a dreadful reality.

As then the commission of a crime makes a breach between society and the criminal, so the commission of sin has made a breach between God and us; and unless that breach be healed, God and we can never walk together. And what will be the consequence? Is it a matter of little moment? Hear the certain consequence. If God and we are never brought to walk together, God and we must be eternally asunder; and if eternally asunder, where is God? In the highest heaven. And where shall we be? In the lowest hell. If you had not been a sinner, you might get from under this dreadful conclusion, this killing, crushing fact. But conscience in your bosom will tell you, far more plainly and more forcibly than I, that sinner you have been, that sinner you are, and being such, that there is a breach between you and God, which breach must be healed, or you and God can never walk together, either in this life or the next, on earth or in heaven, in time or eternity.

But...  this breach is healed; ...a reconciliation has been effected, and thus an agreement has been made whereby ruined, guilty man may once more walk together with God. And to a sinner deeply convinced [convicted] of his sins; to a guilty criminal under the law’s dread sentence; to a miserable wretch stricken through and through by a sense of inward condemnation, what tidings can be so suitable or so acceptable as a message of mercy from the very mouth of the Lord Himself; a treaty of reconciliation held out to rebels and enemies; a means devised that His banished be not fully and finally expelled from Him, (2 Sam. 14:14); and terms of agreement propounded whereby God and man may walk together in friendship and amity?

You may have heard the Gospel so often that this message of mercy may sound in your ears as an idle tale. You may be even worse than that; you may be Gospel hardened, so as to have no conviction of your personal need of it, or be built up in a vain, presumptuous confidence in the mere letter of Truth, without any vital experience of its power. Still, the tidings are not robbed of their intrinsic blessedness by your carelessness or your presumption; still is it my place to proclaim them in your ears whether they be to you the savor of life unto life, or a savor of death unto death. It is still my office to sound the Gospel trumpet, and that with no uncertain sound; to preach the truth boldly and faithfully; and then leave it in the hands of the Lord to apply it as He may see fit.

What a wondrous way, then, has God devised in His own eternal mind, that the breach might be healed; that agreement might be made; that sinning man might be reconciled to his justly offended Maker, and yet that none of His glorious perfections should be tarnished or impaired! And what plan was this? Hear it, O heaven and earth! That the Son of God—His Son by nature and essence His co-equal and co-eternal Son—should take into union with His divine Person a pure, sinless, and spotless humanity; for “as the children were partakers of flesh and blood,” it was necessary that “He Himself likewise should take part of the same,” (Heb. 2:14). This was the will of God which Christ came to do, as we read— “Then said I, lo I come; in the volume of the book”—that is, the book of God’s eternal decrees— “it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart,” (Ps. 40:7, 8). God prepared for His dear Son a body, as the apostle says, quoting Psalm 40:6: — “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared [“fitted,” margin] Me,” (Heb. 10:5). This was a pure, holy, and incorruptible humanity—the body taken in the womb of the Virgin, offered as a bleeding sacrifice on the cross, but now at the right hand of God in heaven.

Man had sinned, offended, gone astray, become involved in transgression. Before, then, there could be any healing of the breach, any reconciliation of man unto God, flesh and blood must be assumed, that in that nature an atonement might be made for sin, justice be fully satisfied, the law righteously obeyed, its penalty removed, and its curse taken away. This mighty work none but the Son of God could accomplish, nor He except by becoming man. As God, Christ could not suffer, bleed, or die. As God, He could not endure the wrath due to transgression, sustain the curse of the law, or work out an obedience such as it demanded. Deity can no more obey than it can suffer, bleed, and die. Yet there must be obedience, or the law cannot be fulfilled; there must be suffering, or the wrath of God cannot be appeased; there must be blood-shedding, or a sacrifice cannot be offered; there must be death, for to die is a main part of the sacrifice.

If the surety take the place of the debtor, he must endure the penalty of the debt; if the substitute stand in the room of the criminal, he must suffer the punishment of the crime. O wondrous scheme, that the Son of God should take our nature into union with His own divine Person, and in that nature render an obedience perfectly acceptable to God; an obedience which must be rendered, but one that we could not render; an obedience exactly such as the law demanded: perfect in thought, word, and deed. Outraged Justice else might say— “Where is my victim? I demand a victim: it must be either the criminal or some one in his stead. I cannot waive my rightful claim. I must have it satisfied, or else I should cease to be Justice.” The blessed Lord comes forward and says— “Justice, take thy claim. Here is My innocent head: let thy thunderbolt fall upon it. Law, what dost thou demand? Perfect obedience. I render it. What dost thou inflict upon the criminal as the penalty of disobedience? The curse. I endure it. Holiness of God, what dost thou require? A spotless purity of soul and body, of heart, lip, and life; perfect love to God and man. Here I am: I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law in its length, breadth, and spirituality, in its holiness, purity, and power, is in My heart.”

Thus by the substitution of the Son of God as rendering an obedience in our nature, all the perfection of God were glorified; all His attributes harmonized; justice was satisfied, the law magnified, and the holiness of God well pleased. Complete satisfaction being thus made to all the requisitions of justice, room was given for mercy and love, pity and compassion to fallen man to come into full play, through the channel of a Redeemer’s meritorious sufferings and death. There was no other way whereby the breach could be healed; but by this divinely contrived plan it has been healed, and that most effectually.

Many, perhaps I may say most, men are sensible that they are sinners against God. Their conscience, when not hardened, pricks them in their bosom, and they cannot deny the truth of that verdict which is so powerfully registered in that court of courts against them. But what course do they take to heal the breach? They feel that they and God are not friends; they dread Him therefore as an enemy. As, then, age, illness, or death draw near, the judgment bar stands before them; and as they know they must appear there to answer for their sins, they are often filled with alarm and apprehension. How shall they heal the breach? How shall they satisfy the justice of God? How shall they obtain mercy? They know not. What then do they? They resort to many self-righteous devices, contrived for the express purpose of appeasing the cry of natural conscience, and of supplying a dim hope that when they die they shall go to heaven. Bat ah! it is a garment too short—it is a bed too narrow. They will find to their confusion that these works of creature righteousness have not healed the breach; have not atoned for their sins; have not satisfied the justice of God; have not fulfilled the law; have not opened a way whereby love and mercy, pardon, peace, and salvation, can reach their breast, and at death open the gates of heavenly glory.

...What are the fruits and effects of this healing of the breach? of this agreement made, and how, by virtue of this reconciliation, the child of grace is brought to walk together with Go? He, like others, was once dead in trespasses and sins; for he was by nature a child of wrath even as others, (Eph. 2:1, 8); and he, like them, would have perished in transgression and disobedience, or in a vain attempt to establish his own righteousness, had the Lord not interposed in his behalf. But the Lord had purposes of mercy and love toward him, and therefore would not suffer him to ruin his own soul by sin or self-righteousness.

What course, then, does he take to bring about that personal, inward, experimental reconciliation without which he cannot walk with God in sacred fellowship and holy communion? He shows him his state and condition by nature and practice. A divine light, and with a divine light a new and heavenly life comes into his heart, whereby he is quickened out of his state of death in trespasses and sins. He awakes, as it were, from a long and deep sleep; he lifts his eyes upward, and what does he behold? The offended Majesty of heaven. He finds what he never before found; he feels what he never before felt—that he has an immortal soul in his body—a soul whose fixed state at death must be eternal joy or woe.

He finds and feels that he is a sinner before the eyes and in the hands of a holy God. Aroused by these new and conflicting feelings, he begins to look around and within him, and turns his eyes, which were before fixed upon others, upon himself—from the world without to the world within. Light breaking in more clearly, he begins to see the state into which he has brought himself by transgression. The Holy Ghost who has thus begun, carries on and deepens the work; lays eternal realities with greater weight upon his conscience, convinces [convicts] him more and more acutely of his sins, and terrifies him by a dread of the future consequences: stops his mouth from all self-righteous pleas, brings him in guilty before God (Rom. 3:19), and opens up the breadth, spirituality, and curse of that righteous law which condemns him as a transgressor. In this school of divine teaching he learns, it may be slowly and gradually, but always effectually, what a breach sin has made between him and God. He sees and feels that there is a wide and deep gulf between him and God, and that that gulf remains impassable until some mode be found whereby either God can pass over to him or he can pass over to God.

But how shall he pass over to God? How shall he get across this mighty gulf, in which at times he may see boiling up the sulphureous flames of hell? How shall he bridge it over? If doings and duties could bear him across the gaping chasm, would he not still have to encounter on the other side the terrible Majesty of heaven, which might hurl him trembling back? To drop the figure, what means shall he take to reconcile himself to God? He knows not, but he will often attempt many. He will break off his old habits; give up his old companions; renounce his beloved lusts; go to church or chapel; repeat prayers, read his Bible, and do anything to get out of his conscience the stings of guilt that he feels to be there. He yearns for pardon, peace, and reconciliation; but how to obtain then he knows not. Thus he may go on, exercised in conscience, harassed in soul, and depressed in mind—it may be through ignorance of the way of salvation; it may be through unbelief, though salvation is set before him; it maybe through the temptations of Satan assailing him and preventing him from receiving the Gospel in the love and power of it.

But sooner or later the Lord the Spirit is pleased to take the veil from off his eyes and heart, and to show unto him the way of salvation through the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not say that every saint of God has so clear and powerful a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to his soul that he sees Him, as it were, with the eyes of faith, bleeding upon the cross for his sins; or that every one who is blessed with living faith has such a full manifestation of His person, blood, and righteousness as to leave no doubt behind of his interest therein. Some of the Lord’s people are so blessed and favored, but by no means all. Yet all of them have the eyes of their understanding spiritually enlightened, and a spirit of wisdom and revelation given them in the knowledge of Christ, so as to know what is the hope of His calling them from darkness into light, (Eph. 1:17,18).

All have, in God’s own time and way, sufficient faith raised up in their heart to take hold of this way of salvation through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God; and they have all-sufficient strength given to them to repent of their sins, to renounce their own righteousness, and to cast their weary, guilty, and naked souls upon the finished work of Christ. Or else where is the agreement spoken of in our text?

But many who truly fear God... desire most earnestly to walk together with God. They feel they have walked long enough with a sinful world; long enough with Pharisees and legalists; long enough with the devices and follies of their own hearts; and now they would walk with God. They desire to have communion with the God of all grace. They long to have reconciliation, pardon, and peace spoken to their conscience. They would be friends of God instead of enemies; and would do anything to remove the burden of sin off their conscience, to get its stings and pangs out of their soul, and to have a testimony that the Lord is their God.

These yearnings after reconciliation; these desires for pardon and peace; these breathings and breakings forth of your soul, it may be in the midnight hour, that the Lord would have mercy on, and bless you with some discoveries of His pardoning love,—whence spring they? From the Spirit of God. And whence come your sighs, cries, prayers, groans, entreaties? From the interceding breath of the Holy Ghost, who intercedeth for us and within us, “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Your very desires for reconciliation, pardon, peace, and salvation, bespeak the work of the Spirit; are evidences of divine light; are signs and marks of the life of God within.

After a time the Lord will be pleased to show you more plainly and clearly how you are to be reconciled. It may be that you have been looking too much to the law; depending too much upon your own righteousness; turning your eyes too much away from the only Object of a sinner’s faith: and looking askance at something to be done by yourselves. Will God sanction this by His Spirit and grace? He will not. Therefore you are far from rest and peace.

But it may be in some moment of deep distress, when all hope even of salvation seems taken away, that the Lord Himself will break in upon your soul with a sweet and gracious promise, with the application of His atoning blood, and the revelation of His love. Then you will see the way of salvation and your interest therein; then behold the Son of God as your bleeding Surety; and then pardon and peace and salvation will be distilled into your soul as from the very mouth of God.

Now you are agreed with God; and what are the points of your agreement? You could not agree with God whilst you were loving sin and living in sin; or whilst trusting to your own righteousness. God would not sanction such double dealing—would not smile upon such hypocritical conduct. But now that you esteem the Lord Jesus Christ, “the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely,” you and God are agreed together in the high opinion you put upon his dear Son, and you and He upon that point are one.

Now you agree. God smiles upon the agreement, and you begin to walk together with Him, because upon that point He and you are of one heart and of one mind. As long as you were looking to yourself, you were secretly disregarding, slighting, and despising the atoning blood of the Lord the Lamb. You did not see the virtue and efficacy of that most precious blood. There was a secret leaning half upon that and half upon something of your own. But you are brought by the teaching of the Spirit of God in your soul to look to the atoning blood of Christ and no other; to His precious sacrifice and no other; and to hang upon His perfect obedience and no other.

God and you are now agreed. You both see with the same eyes, feel with the same heart, and love with the same affection. He loves Christ: you love Him. He honors Christ: you honor Him. He has highly exalted Christ: you do the same by setting Him upon the throne of your affections. You and God are now agreed.

So also with respect to the special teaching of the Holy Spirit in the heart. While you were looking to be made wise by your own exertions, you and God were at variance; but when you were brought to this point— “Let the Holy Ghost be my teacher; let me have what I have by His heavenly communication, and be what I am by His divine operation; let me be wholly the work of His hands,” —then you and God were agreed.

So, again, as to thoughts and affections about eternal things. There was a time when the world held in your heart the chief place. It was not so in God’s heart. You and God were therefore at variance. But now, through grace, you are brought to make eternity your chief concern. You and God are agreed there; for in the mind of God, eternity as much outweighs time as the stars in the midnight sky outweigh a grain of dust. There was a time when you loved the world and the things of time and sense; and earth and earthly things were your element and home. You and God disagreed upon that matter; because the Lord saw that the world was full of evil, whilst you saw it full of good. The Lord saw the world under His curse, and you loved its favor and its blessing—seeking madly and wickedly to enjoy that which God had denounced: therefore you could not agree. Thus you see that in order to be agreed with God, we must have God’s thoughts in our heart, God’s ways in our soul, and God’s love in our affections. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” But they must become such; and when once God’s thoughts become our thoughts and God’s ways our ways; when once we have the mind of Christ and see with the eyes of God, then God and we become agreed, and being agreed, we can walk together.

What is it to walk together? Why it is to enjoy union, communion, fellowship, and friendship. You see two persons walking together in the street: they are talking to each other. They agree, else they would not walk together. But walking together, it may be arm in arm, you see that there is an intercourse, a fellowship, a communion established between the two. God adopts the figure: “Enoch walked with God;” that is, if I may use the expression, he walked arm in arm with Jehovah. God spoke to him. God poured His love into his ear and heart; and Enoch, like a little child, stammered out his love and affection to God. So they walked together as Father and child for three hundred years.

Now as we are brought to agree with God, we walk with God. He has set up a mercy-seat on high, and when they thus agree, God and man may meet at the mercy-seat of the Redeemer. As the eyes are enlightened to see the Truth of God; as the heart is touched to feel the power of God; and as the affections are drawn forth to love the things of God, we meet at the mercy-seat. It is sprinkled with blood; it contains and hides from view the broken tables of the Law. There God meets man in gracious amity, and enables him to pour out his soul before Him and to tell Him his troubles, trials and temptations. And every now and then He sweetly relieves by dropping in a gracious promise, applying some portion of His sacred Truth, encouraging him to believe in His dear Son and still to hope in His mercy.

But the chief way whereby we walk with God is by faith, and not by sight. Abraham walked in this way. Unbelief severs the soul from God. There is no communion between God and an infidel. An unbelieving heart has no fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ; but a believing heart has communion with Him. It is by faith that we have fellowship with God and His dear Son; and you will find that just in proportion to the strength or weakness of your faith is your walking with God. If you have faith in blessed exercise, as you look to the atoning blood, you find that you can walk with God; you can pour out your heart before Him, tell Him all your concerns, spread before Him the inmost movements of your mind, and look to Him for peace and consolation. But when your faith is weak—when it gives way under trial and cannot take hold of the promises, then communion is interrupted; there is no longer a walking with God. But in proportion as faith is strong, so there is a walking with God in sweet agreement; for faith keeps eyeing the atonement; faith looks not so much to sin, as to salvation from sin—at the way whereby sin is pardoned, overcome, and subdued. So it is by faith, and in proportion to our faith, that we walk together with God.

But there is no keeping up faith except by prayer and watchfulness. As prayer declines in the bosom, so does the strength of faith. You may go on neglecting prayer and supplication until every grain of faith seems lost out of your bosom, and may come at last to think you never knew anything of a work of God upon your heart, and have been deceived in believing there was any grace there. By watchfulness also is the love of God maintained. Unless you watch against your besetting sins, against the snares spread for your feet, against the temptations that daily and hourly beset your path, against being overcome by the strength or subtlety of your unwearied foe, you are sure to fall; and if you fall, you will bring guilt and bondage, darkness and distress into your mind, and cut off for a time all friendly intercourse with God. Therefore you must pray and watch; for without watchfulness, prayer is of little efficacy.

Then there is reading the Word. It is in the Scriptures that the mind of God is revealed. There are the promises; there is the revelation of mercy; there is God’s blessed Truth discovered and made known. If we neglect the Scriptures, have no heart to read them, or read them carelessly, unbelievingly, they will do us little good. They must be read with believing eyes and heart, received as the revelation of God, and must be mixed with faith, or assuredly they will not profit us, (Heb. 4:2). The life of God is a very deep secret, and sacred thing in the soul. God, it is true, will maintain it; He will not leave His work unaccomplished. But still, unless we read and pray, watch and meditate, wage war against besetting sins, and seek the Lord’s face continually, we shall find the strength and power of faith very sensibly decline; and if so, there is no comfortable walking with God.

Is it your earnest desire to walk with God? To have a scriptural evidence that you are one of His beloved family; that he is your Father and heavenly Friend, and that when you die, death will only be an introduction to His eternal presence? Are you sensible that sin has made an awful breach between you and God? Has that breach ever been matter of deep and anxious concern to your soul how it is to be healed? Has it ever caused you a sleepless night or mournful day? Has it ever given rise to deep searching of heart? Have you ever seen by the eye of faith that there is a Way whereby the breach may be healed? —that there is a Mediator between God and man, an Advocate at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous?

Have your eyes been enlightened by divine light to see; has your heart been touched by a divine finger to feel these solemn verities, so as to see the beauty and blessedness of them? Has that drawn up your faith and hope and love toward God? Is it no concern to you whether you are God’s friend or God’s enemy—whether heaven is to be your blissful home, or hell your dread abode? Every day is shortening the span of life, and some of you already have the snows scattered upon your head—snows which indicate the approaching winter—when you will have to stand before your great Judge. What then? Are there no anxious enquiries in your bosom, how the matter stands between you and God—whether you are reconciled, brought near, accepted, pardoned, and saved; or whether you are still in your sins, under their awful weight and dismal load, exposed to the wrath of God and the curse of a righteous law?

You say “I am concerned; the things of eternity press very heavily and deeply upon me.” Let us see the certain fruits and effects. If you are hungry, you do anything to get food; if thirsty, you do anything to got water; if you are poor you take any employment to procure the necessaries of life. Then are you thus exercised? Is your mind thus uneasy? What! no sighs nor cries for mercy? No supplications to the throne? But you have had something communicated; you have had some views of Jesus; mercy has in some way visited your soul, and peace and salvation have been in some measure imparted.

But you have backslidden; you have got into a cold, careless frame of mind; your heart has wandered from God; you have brought death and darkness into your soul. What then? Must all be given up? Must your profession be tied like a millstone round your neck, to sink you into a double hell? Not so

There is the fountain still open for all sin and uncleanness; there is the interceding high Priest, the ever living Mediator; there is the blood ever crying from the ground. There you must come; to that altar at which you once stood and there found atoning blood revealed; to that fountain which washed you once you must resort again, that the breach may be healed, pardon once more spoken, and your soul be enabled again to walk with God. And you will walk more carefully, watchfully, prayerfully for the future. As a burnt child dreads the fire, so your very backslidings may work for your spiritual good; and you may learn thereby to walk more humbly with God, and more tenderly and cautiously as regards yourself....

The Lord will perfect His work; what He has begun, He will carry on and complete. And as salvation is all of his grace, it opens a way of escape for every sinner sensibly in his own conscience condemned by the law, and reveals a mode whereby God can not only save him, but be eternally glorified thereby in the Son of His love.



This message has been edited, excerpted and altered for blog posting. This sermon is published in Gospel Pulpit Sermons by J.C. Philpot, M.A., Vol. 2, Old Paths Gospel Press, PO Box 318, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-2311, pp. 1-20. The full text of this sermon in its entirety can be found on the Internet at: http://www.pbministries.org/Theology/J.C.%20Philpot/vol2_1.htm 

Graphic "Road to Emmaus" was obtained from HERE. 

For a related topic on a recent Herescope post, see the devotional "In the Days of Noah" HERE. 

 

Metaphysical Mysticism Masquerading as Science

The Rise of End-Time Occultism Part 6 

This report continues our previous series reviewing the new doctrinal tenets being taught by postmodern prophecy teachers who are importing mystical ideas from the occult into the church in order to launch a new endtime eschatology that no longer focuses on the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but rather they are looking for an appearance of UFOs, space aliens, Nephilim, and half-breed humanoids with corrupted DNA. As fantastical and strange as this sounds, many believe it and many leaders are teaching it. Here are the previous articles in this series: 

• Part 1: Homo Nephilus 
• Part 2: The “Return” of the Alien Super Soldier” 
• Part 3: Techno-Dimensional Prayer Combat 
• Part 4: The Second Coming of Apollo 
• Part 5: Nephilim are from Mars, Fallen Angels are from Krypton 

By Gaylene Goodroad 

  [http://sindyssaturdaysatsang.wordpress.com/tag/cosmos/]

 Non-locality refers to the quantum mechanics notion that objects that are far apart in space have connections (or communicate) and can instantaneously affect each other. Einstein himself called non-locality "spooky action at a distance." Fritjof Capra, author of the Tao of Physics, states that "At the instant we perform our measurement on particle 1, particle 2, which may be thousands of miles away, will acquire a definite spin along the chosen axis. How does particle 2 know which axis we have chosen?" Spooky indeed …The purpose of understanding these Quantum Physics ideas is twofold. First, they will help shift your conscious or non-conscious perception of the world as a cause and effect Newtonian model to a world of unlimited potential. Second, you can embolden your Law of Attraction efforts with your new quantum understanding of how vibrational energy is in everything. There is no such thing as empty space but rather infinite vibrational energy everywhere. The stars, humans and even rocks are in a state of constant vibration. So we are always co-creating with our environment. [1][bold, red added] 

The essence of quantum weirdness can be summed up in the statement that quantum systems -- typically, photons and electrons, things smaller than an atom -- exhibit ''nonlocal'' behavior. In all previous scientific investigations, nature acts locally. For a cause here to produce an effect over there, an intervening mechanism must link the two. Such a mechanism is ''local'' in that you can identify it here and now; the waves that make a skiff bob in its moorings can be traced to a passing ship. If no waves or other mechanisms could be found connecting the ship to the skiff, we would have nonlocal behavior, which seems as inexplicable as if a car were to continue accelerating down the road after losing its drive shaft. [2][bold, red added] 

IT SOUNDS like science fiction. Or possibly like something from the New Age movement. Discoveries from the world of physics make it appear that the universe is a lot less “real” than we think. And yet a careful analysis suggests that it’s all part of an elegant and unimaginably complex design. Chuck Missler, president of Koinonia Institute, discussed how modern physics, while perhaps shattering our traditional understanding of the material universe, actually points to the Creator of the universe, the One who spoke it into existence: Yahweh, the God of the Bible. (If it all sounds too weird, maybe it’s because physics is weird.)[3][bold, red added] 

 

 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” 

(Colossians 2:8)

New Age Metaphysics Supplanting the Bible
In Part 4 of our book review series, “A New Cosmology for the Church,” we examined the “Quantum Metaphysics” teachings found in Chuck Missler’s 1997 book Alien Encounters.[4] In today’s post we will briefly provide an overview of a particular pseudoscience directly undergirding many Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) teachers’ errant doctrines: i.e., New Age physics or Metaphysics—relying upon postmodern quantum theories to explain the spiritual realm, and vice versa.[5] The quotations at the top of this post are indicative of the nature of the problem. The issue is not the scientific physics concept of “non-locality.” Our concern is how “non-locality” lends itself to the eastern mystical worldview of the New Age, and how this metaphysical worldview is now being brought into the evangelical church world.

This is an issue that is increasingly a concern as it arises from many quadrants and infects the church. As a matter of background information, the Discernment Research team spent nearly 18 months documenting the PPP teachers’ integration of New Age Physics with pagan mysticism, especially in a 9-part series about “Quantum Mysticism” that was titled “Cosms, Codes, and Cryptologies.”[6] We even sponsored a Discernment Ministries conference in June of 2012 entitled, “QUANTUM MYSTICISM 2012 & BEYOND: Understanding the Deception,”[7] to profile our research.

Here is a simple definition of “Quantum Mysticism”:

Quantum mysticism is a term that has been used to refer to a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. It is considered pseudoscience by mainstream scientists.[8][bold, added] 

It’s important to note here that “mainstream scientists” consider the marriage of “metaphysical beliefs” to quantum mechanics (also called “quantum physics”) to be a “pseudoscience” or false science. According to this definition above, an integral component of Quantum Mysticism is derived from quantum mechanics. Here is a brief description of quantum mechanics from a science dictionary:

quantum mechanics 
A fundamental theory of matter and energy that explains facts that previous physical theories were unable to account for, in particular the fact that energy is absorbed and released in small, discrete quantities (quanta), and that all matter displays both wavelike and particlelike properties, especially when viewed at atomic and subatomic scales. Quantum mechanics suggests that the behavior of matter and energy is inherently probabilistic and that the effect of the observer on the physical system being observed must be understood as a part of that system. Also called quantum physics, quantum theory....[9][bold, red, underlining added] 

It is this aspect of the science of quantum physics—“the physical system being observed must be understood as a part of that system”—that lends itself to the pseudoscience of Quantum Mysticism. It can fit into a monistic worldview that is at odds with the transcendent, all-powerful God of the Bible Who is separate and distinct from His creation. It can comfortably merge with the New Age worldview “all is One” or “God is One”—that everything is God (pantheism) or that God is in all things (panentheism). Pastor Larry DeBruyn has eloquently described it this way:

Deriving spirituality from quantum science obliterates distinction between the Creator and His creation. Upon the altar of idolatrous immanence, the transcendent and Holy God is sacrificed. Instead of worshipping the Creator, quantum spiritualists venerate the creation…. [10]

A Quantum Metaphysics Revolution

This metaphysics worldview is increasingly popular in the mainstream culture. One example of these monistic teachings (taken from Hinduism and other Far-Eastern religions) was showcased in a documentary based on information channeled[11] by a demonic entity: 

The 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? dealt with a range of New Age ideas in relation to physics. It was produced by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, founded by J.Z. Knight, who claimed her teachings were based on a discourse with a 35,000-year-old disembodied entity named Ramtha. It made controversial use of some aspects of quantum mechanics—including the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the observer effect—as well as biology and medicine. Numerous critics dismissed the film as pseudoscience.[12] [bold added] 

One “expert” appearing in this overtly New Age film, Dr. Amit Goswami, PhD, not only authored numerous textbooks on quantum mechanics and New Age “science,” but has also produced an award-winning video called The Quantum Activist.[13] Note Dr. Goswami’s anti-biblical monistic worldview and how it is tied to global ecumenical unity goals: 

Join the revolution going on in science. A genuine paradigm shift. While mainstream science remains materialist, a substantial number of scientists are supporting and developing a paradigm based on the primacy of consciousness. Dr. Amit Goswami, Ph.D, a pioneer of this revolutionary new perspective within science shares with us his vision of the unlimited potential of consciousness as the ground of all being, and how this revelation can actually help us to live better. The Quantum Activist tells the story of a man who challenges us to rethink our very notions of existence and reality, with a force and scope not felt since Einstein. This film bridges the gap between God and Science. The work of Goswami, with stunning precision and without straying from the rigors of quantum mechanics, reveals the overarching unity inherent in the worlds [sic] major religions and mystical traditions.[14][light red/orange in original; bold added] 

It’s interesting that the word “revolution” was highlighted bright red on Dr. Goswami’s website. A revolution is an organized revolt against the established order to enforce new rules or laws—or in this case—to ‘shift the paradigm’ to Quantum Mysticism. Goswami’s stated goal is to “bridge the gap between God and Science.” To this end, he has indeed “obliterated the distinction between the Creator and His creation.”[15]

In order to ‘shift the paradigm’, the God of the Bible must be eliminated and replaced with a New Age, “all is One” god: “the ground of all being” that Dr. Goswami cited. Christian writer Warren Smith, who has a powerful testimony of coming out of the New Age movement,[16] described this false god—a divinized creation—in his critique of a bestselling fiction novel, The Shack: 

However, the author’s [Wm. P. Young] use of poetic license to convey his highly subjective, and often unbiblical, spiritual views becomes increasingly problematic as the story line develops. This is most apparent when he uses the person of “Jesus” to suddenly introduce the foundational teaching of the New Spirituality/New World Religion — God is “in” everything. Using the New Age term “ground of being” to describe “God,” the “Jesus” of The Shack states: 

 “God, who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things….” (p. 112) 

This false teaching about a “God” who “dwells in, around, and through all things” is the kind of New Age leaven that left unchallenged could leaven the church into the New Age/New Spirituality of the proposed New World Religion….[17][bold added] 

This paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of reality is an essential feature of New Age eastern mysticism. Marilyn Ferguson described this New Age “paradigm shift” as a “revolution” in perception and thinking about reality in her groundbreaking book The Aquarian Conspiracy that launched the New Age as a movement.[18] She made the sweeping assertion that her Aquarian  conspiracy would destroy the old beliefs and inaugurate a New Age revolution:

The Aquarian Conspiracy is using its widespread outposts of influence to focus on the dangerous myths and mystiques of the old paradigm, to attack obsolete ideas and practices…. We can conspire against the old, deadly assumptions… [A] revolution in understanding [is] how revolutions begin…. [19]

We already know that the old paradigm she is referring to, the one she says needs to be attacked as obsolete and dangerous, is the biblical worldview. Replacing it will be a revolution in understanding, a paradigm shift to an eastern mystical worldview. In this New Age eastern worldview there is no reality.
 

The graphic symbol on this book cover represents a 6-6-6

Rethinking Reality by Shifting the Paradigm

In our previous examinations of New Age Physics—quantum mechanics yoked with mysticism—we noted several PPP teachers, akin to William P. Young (author of The Shack), who have likewise introduced this paradigm-shifting leaven into the evangelical mainstream through pseudo-scientific theory, speculation and vain imagination. We prominently cited popular Bible teacher and author Chuck Missler as one who consistently has admonished readers to unlearn what they know to be true so that he can introduce them to “new truths”[20] about a metaphysical “reality.” Missler has said: 

This field of study is called “Quantum Physics” and its philosophical implications can be shattering to our presuppositions about our “reality.” We now discover that the physical reality that surrounds us is only a virtual simulated reality—made up of indivisible, electrically charged particles: in fact, we exist within a digital electrical simulation!... 

Before we attempt to explore the fringes—and beyond—of our understanding of the physical universe (ghosts, aliens, vampires, etc.), it is of paramount importance to dispose of the baggage of our misconceptions and the mythology of what we have been erroneously taught in this age of deceit. The puncturing of our delusions…is absolutely vital for well-being, and a prerequisite for maturity. Much of what we have been taught is error…[21]

These are bold and presumptuous statements. Let’s recap Missler’s dialectical statements above which are designed to prompt readers to rethink or abandon biblical truth in order to embrace his metaphysical worldview: 

• “Quantum Physics” and its philosophical implications can be “shattering to our presuppositions about our reality” 
• We can “explore the fringes—and beyond—of our understanding of the physical universe (ghosts, aliens, vampires, etc.)” 
• We must “dispose of the baggage of our misconceptions and the mythology of what we have been erroneously taught” 
• “The puncturing of our delusions”… is absolutely vital for well-being, and a prerequisite for maturity 
• “Much of what we have been taught is error”… [bold, red added] 

Let that last statement sink in for a moment: “much of what we have been taught is error…” By making this confident assertion, Missler has just appointed himself to be a teacher of new truths about our physical reality. But first we must let go of old scientifically verified facts (and biblical constraints). After “our presuppositions about our reality” have been “shattered,” “the baggage of our misconceptions and the mythology of what we have been erroneously taught” has been “disposed” of, and our “delusions punctured,” we’re ready to move into this new level of mystical illumination. Because this statement mixes science with religion, the implication is that the old truths (or understandings) found in Scripture must be discarded. And note that he is saying that “fringes” of our physical universe includes the paranormal, i.e., the occult “(ghosts, aliens, vampires, etc.).”

Notice how Missler needs to cloak his metaphysical mysticism beneath a cleverly constructed “science” mask to pull it off: “We now discover that the physical reality that surrounds us is only a virtual simulated reality—made up of indivisible, electrically charged particles: in fact, we exist within a digital electrical simulation!...” Where are these strange illusory notions in the Bible? They are not there, but they are found in Hindu sacred writings.[22]

Now compare Missler’s statements to similar contentions of New Age mystic Dr. Goswami from the pseudo-scientific and New Age-themed films, The Quantum Activist and What the Bleep do We Know. Goswami was described as 

…a man who challenges us to rethink our very notions of existence and reality…. [23]

Both men direct listeners and readers to empty their minds and place trust them in order to be re-educated (indoctrinated, “rethink”) with new truth; both men rely on New Age Metaphysics—and NOT the written Word of God. If these men were simply talking about factual and scholarly science they would not need to engage in these clever and deceptive psychological methods of manipulation to change people’s beliefs. But, as shall be seen, this sort of mind change is actually an essential part of the emerging Quantum Metaphysics that is being taught. 

Quantum Omnijective Reality & ‘ALL IS ONE’ 

Upturning centuries of empirical science and biblical truth, Chuck Missler is helping to bring the church into the postmodern age of abstract new (but old) mystical revelations co-opted from Hinduism and the New Age. In his Introduction to a Tom Horn collaborative book called God’s Ghostbusters, Missler wrote: 

As we explore further the nature of the tiny particles that create the illusion of our reality, it gets worse…. If we take any length [and divide it]… we would discover that when we reach a defining minimum—known as the “Planck length” 10-33 cm.—we would encounter any attempts to divide that remainder would result in a property known as “non-locality”: being connected to everywhere at once! …all “non-local” particles throughout our apparent universe are somehow intimately, directly, connected simultaneously….[24][bold, italic, red added] 

Note that Missler's discussion of non-locality is in the context of the paranormal, i.e. Horn's book about ghostbusters. Is our “reality” (dare we say consciousness) an “illusion”!? Pastor Larry DeBruyn explains the implications of Missler’s universal, quantum, interconnected (“non-local”) system: 

A quantum physical worldview theorizes that the universe is all there is (a solitary system), and that its unity consists of a composite of parts and events where every function (or malfunction) of the smallest part (the microcosm) can affect the function of the whole (the macrocosm). As such, quantum theorists postulate that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Congo might stimulate a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. Welcome to Chaos Theory 101.[25][bold, red added] 

This is the never-never land of the quantum metaphysical mystics. If “a butterfly flapping its wings in the Congo is able to stimulate a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean” then what harm might a human being be capable of doing as part of the same interconnected quantum ecosystem? Where does the God who created the butterfly, the human being—and the entire universe that these beings inhabit—fit into this non-personal mystical system? How does He factor into this quantum spirituality worldview? How can Elohim (the Creator) exist in this “non-local,” “all is one” philosophical system? He doesn't. “Above and below” become ‘One’ in the metaphysical quantum world. The transcendent God of the Bible and the impersonal god of New Age Metaphysics are polar opposites. 

That is why it is so disturbing that Missler, in his book Cosmic Codes, reiterates the mystical version of “non-locality” from the teachings of David Bohm, a physicist deeply influenced by the Hindu philosopher Jiddu Kristnamurti[26] : 

[David] Bohm’s interpretation of quantum physics indicated that at the subquantum level location ceased to exist. All points in space become equal to all other points in space, and it was meaningless to speak of anything as being separate from anything else. Physicists call this property “nonlocality.”[27][bold, red added] 

Missler’s adoption and citation of Bohm’s metaphysical “nonlocal” ideas were actually lifted directly from the late New Age author Michael Talbot’s work The Holographic Universe (page 41), without citing proper attribution.[28] Since the publication of our article “Without Attribution,” Missler has publicly acknowledged that Talbot’s words and ideas were incorporated into his best-selling book Cosmic Codes.[29] Keep in mind that Talbot was NOT a science author, nor a Christian author—but a New Age author! This is a significant and sobering disclosure. 

In 1981, Talbot published another book (republished in 1993), Mysticism and the New Physics. In this book he uses the term “omnijective” to expound on the Hinduistic concept of maya—a New Age view that he directly ties to The Holographic Universe: 

…the pre-eminent Argentinian writer Borges presents a view normally held by mystics and ‘idealists’: that is, the hallucinatory nature of the world. We have dreamed it, Borges states simply. In an article published in 1976 I suggested that persistent reports from various peoples throughout history of encounters with supernatural beings—folkloric personages, UFO entities, appearances of the Virgin, and so forth—forces us to reach a similar conclusion…. In the article I suggested that such phenomena cannot be understood as either purely objective or subjective events. Rather they are somehow both, or ‘omnijective’. Furthermore, their existence suggests that in the universe at large there is also ultimately no division between mind and reality. Despite its apparent materiality the physical world is also omnijective. I discuss this idea at length in my book The Holographic Universe…. An omnijective concept of the universe is by no means new. Over two thousand years ago the Hindu Tantric tradition postulated a similar philosophy. According to Tantra, reality is illusion, or maya. The major error we commit in not perceiving this maya, say the Tantras, is that we perceive ourselves as separate from our environment. The Tantras are very explicit on this point. The observer and objective reality are one.[30][bold, red added] 

In other words, Talbot’s “omnijective” or holographic universe is as the Hindus teach: one integrated “non local” reality. In light of Missler’s reliance upon Talbot’s work, note the sober implications of Talbot’s overtly New Age “omnijective” concepts. The back cover of Mysticism and the New Physics states: 

Nowhere is the ‘paradigm shift’—the radical change of perspective that is sweeping the Western world—advancing so rapidly as in physics…. The new physicists state that reality is a combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocal, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This ‘omnijective view’ of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.[31][bold added, red in original] 

In The Holographic Universe, Talbot, based on his first-person communication with theoretical physicists David Bohm and Karl Pribram—and New Age promoter Marilyn Ferguson—favorably explored other spooky phenomena associated with the occult and paranormal realm including telepathy, psychokinesis, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), phantom apparitions, shamanic travel, and Jungian synchronicities. Talbot also related these metaphysical concepts to Hinduism, Buddhism, Native American mysticism, and ancient Hermeticism. Note how far from science this metaphysics has deviated. 

Why would Missler surreptitiously import such “nonlocal,” “holographic” and “omnijective” ideas, directly connected to these occult notions, into his book—and by extension into the church? 

Paradigm-Shifting Into the New Age

There are even more disturbing connections to these mystical ideas posing at true science. Another author, favorable to Bohm’s (and Talbot’s) metaphysics, parallels his “nonlocal” ideas to New Age author Gary Zukav: 

…mystical and spiritual teachings down through the ages have also spoken about the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. If Bohm's physics, or one similar to it, Gary Zukav writes in his popular New Age book The Dancing Wu Li Masters (1979), should become the main thrust of physics in the future, the dances of East and West could blend in exquisite harmony. Do not be surprised if physics curricula of the twenty-first century include classes in meditation. With the model of the holographic brain, the holographic universe, and Quantum Physics, we could speculate that all that we hold as real is nothing more than the playful dance of light, light that has no dimension and limitless dimension.[32][bold, red, underlining added] 

Note the Zen Buddhist unsolvable riddle (koan) that the author used to describe this theoretical quantum model of reality: “…all that we hold as real is nothing more than the playful dance of light, light that has no dimension and limitless dimension.” These self-contradictory realities, i.e. possessing “no dimension and limitless dimension” simultaneously, are not only common illogicalities posed within these quantum mystical theories—but also in Far Eastern religions. The Buddhists use them to facilitate Zen meditation and altered states of consciousness: 

ko·an noun \kō-än\ : 

a paradox to be meditated upon that is used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon ultimate dependence on reason and to force them into gaining sudden intuitive enlightenment.[33]

Another purpose in introducing these mystical pseudo-scientific theories into the mainstream mindset was presented in the opening quote of this article: to “help shift your conscious or non-conscious perception of the world as a cause and effect Newtonian model to a world of unlimited potential.”[34] In other words, the reader is told to forget reason and truth; trust your intuition and feelings. Note the last part of this quote from David Thimme's article on the "Law of Attraction and Quantum Physics" (appearing at the very top of this post):

Second, you can embolden your Law of Attraction efforts with your new quantum understanding of how vibrational energy is in everything. There is no such thing as empty space but rather infinite vibrational energy everywhere. The stars, humans and even rocks are in a state of constant vibration. So we are always co-creating with our environment. 

The “Law of Attraction,” a Theosophical concoction (also called New Thought), postulates that humans can control reality with thoughts of the mind.[35] It is based on the idea that everything in the universe (including thoughts) is an expression of “vibrational energy everywhere.” This is part and parcel of the “non-locality” principle of New Age metaphysics which states that everything—including human thought—is interconnected in cosmic oneness;[36] i.e., “as above, so below.” This sort of “oneness” is the goal of esoteric evolution, and teaches that we will all evolve to become part of a cosmic whole. 

Dr. Janeen Detrick, an “Energy Medicine modalities” master (New Age doctor), explains how the “Law of Attraction” operates through New Age metaphysics. Note the “non-local” pseudoscientific principle inherent in her explanation: 

Science now realizes that in every cell, inside everything, even inanimate objects, there are strings of energy that wobble and wave and vibrate in different patterns, and these strings of energy make up the protons and neutrons of every nucleus…. So, literally, your strings obey your thoughts, and fly out to attract strings that are wobbling and wiggling in the same pattern! Other strings that are wobbling and wiggling in the same frequency and pattern will flock, like a magnet, to coagulate with the other similar strings! Once there is a critical mass of vibrationally matching strings of energy, “it”, whatever it was you were intending, manifests! THIS is how your reality manifests! THIS is how the Law of Attraction works! These strings of energy is how it can be said that “God is in everything and everyplace, all at the same time”, and that “We are all connected”![37][bold, red added] 

Besides earning her doctorate in Metaphysical Sciences, Dr. Detrick operates a healing clinic in Utah utilizing these New Age practices which include Quantum Touch, The “Laying On Of Hands” Blessing, Quantum Healing, Meridian Clearing, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis, Homeopathy, Healing Gemstones as Medicine, Ayurveda, Nutritive Emotional Clearing, Biofeedback, Essential Oils, Theta Healing, Theta Yogic Breathing, Reiki, Flower Remedies, and Perspective Flipping for Emotional Clearing.[38] Again, note that none of this has anything to do with scientific physics. 

Hyper-Dimensional Metaphysical Realities

According to this same metaphysical construct of “non-locality,” an integral component of this so-called “vibrational energy” permeating the cosmos is a hyper-spatial, holographic, or hyper-dimensional reality. Chuck Missler promotes these same quantum metaphysics theories in order to explain his own suppositions and conjectures regarding UFOs, aliens, Nephilim, and other dark entities. In our comprehensive book review of Missler and Eastman’s landmark book, Alien Encounters: the Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon, we documented how far into the paranormal and occult this sort of metaphysics can lead.[39] 

Missler’s sources for his hyperdimensional theories even included Nachmonides and the Kabbalah. Note how Missler jumps from scientific physics to metaphysics in the following quotation: 

The 10-Dimensional Metacosm 

 Both the astrophysicists and the quantum physicists now tell us that we apparently live in a hyperspace of more than four dimensions—ten is a current estimate…. 

Of the ostensible ten dimensions we now know exist, only four are directly perceptible by our current technologies. The remaining six are “curled” (to use the nomenclature of metric tensors) in less than 10-33 cm. (smaller than the wavelength of light) and thus are not directly discernible by current methodologies. It is also interesting that the Hebrew sage known as Nachmonides, writing in the 13th century, concluded from his study of the Book of Genesis that the universe has ten dimensions, but only four of them are “knowable” by man. 

It appears that many millions of dollars have been spent on atomic accelerators only to learn what Nachmonides concluded from his study of the text of Genesis!... 

It would seem that the domain of the “Metacosm”—which includes the elusive six dimensions—is the realm of the trans-dimensional phenomena such as angels, demons, and, perhaps, UFOs and other paranormal phenomena.[40][bold added] 

Chapter 4 of Missler’s Alien Encounters is titled “Reality’s Twilight Zone.” It opens with the quote from physicist Niels Bohr cited in the graphic image at the beginning of this post: “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory does not understand it.”[41] As we documented previously, Niels Bohr was a physicist who had designed a coat of arms featuring a yin-yang symbol,[42] and whose existential ideas emphasized “the role of the observer in creating reality.”[43]

Neils Borh's yin-yang coat of arms in Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics

Thus Alien Encounters has been instrumental in catapulting these Far Eastern metaphysical, paranormal, and occult concepts into the evangelical church. Why has it been so necessary to introduce these eastern mystical concepts to the evangelical church—especially in the guise of science? Because it has facilitated the introduction of an entirely new eschatology. The current PPP leadership, inspired by Missler’s metaphysical teachings, have concocted a bizarre, false endtime eschatology involving space aliens and corrupted DNA—themes dramatically embellished and proliferated by other PPP leaders.[44] A common thread tying these strange new myths together is New Age occult ideas masquerading as legitimate science. As we explained previously: 

Once again, while reading Chapter 4, I discovered that I had a prior familiarity with the topics that Missler is addressing. I was first taught this new mystical physics – not in science classes – but in educational psychology classes in the 1970s. One of my professors came out of Stanford University where he had frequent ongoing contact. I was also taught consciousness as part of holistic education – that the nature of reality is in our mind, that to transcend our limitations we need expand our minds and experience a deep inner paradigm shift, that we are not separate but all interconnected to the whole, and that our minds can change the cosmos. It wasn’t until the 1980s that I first read Marilyn Ferguson’s book launching the New Age movement, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s. After reading her book I finally understood that the strange “physics” that I had been taught in college wasn’t just eastern mysticism, it was also New Age metaphysics.[45][bold, red added] 

BEYOND PERCEPTION & Into Metaphysical Mysticism

Despite its Hindu, New Age, and occult moorings, Missler has continued to peddle these mystical physics ideas to the Church. In a highly technical briefing package produced by Koinonia House in 2010 called Beyond Perception, Missler reiterates all of these New Age metaphysics teachings—and even more. Much of it is well beyond the grasp of lay persons, which adds to its deceptive snare. Most Christians listening to Missler’s audio files or reading the supplemental notes, loaded with complex mathematical graphics and technical jargon, are conditioned to trust his analysis of these complicated theories. But even the scientific theorists he cites can’t agree upon these things. 

Question: If these quantum particles are ‘beyond [human] perception’, how then can they be verified? How can they be tested? The answer is, they can’t. This is one reason why certain quantum theories lend themselves easily to the metaphysical worldview. Therefore, Missler can be found to be teaching a metaphysical worldview masquerading as scientific and biblical truth. For example, despite much of the intractable information in Beyond Perception, here is one familiar teaching from page 6 of the teaching notes: 

The World of Quantum Physics 

It is non-causal and non-deterministic: Everything is probabilistic in some very strange ways. Nothing is real; we cannot say anything about what things are doing when we are not looking at them. Reality is non-local: every particle in the universe is somehow connected.[46][bold, red added] 

As we noted earlier, the idea that nothing is real is a central tenet of all eastern mysticism. But we know from Scripture that there is a reality that Jesus died for our sins on the cross in physical space and time, that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). To say that nothing is real is to change the truth of God into a lie (Romans 1:25).

A June 4th electronic news alert from Missler’s Koinonia House featured an article entitled “Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain” which highlights this “non-locality” property: 

Ever since the birth of Quantum Theory there has been speculation—some privately held, some very public—of what the implications of the existence of quanta really means. As measuring devices improved dramatically, they provided more clarity to the issue. Today it is an accepted “truth” that everything is quantized. Energy (as well as length, time, and mass) exists in discrete quantities, divisions if you will. 

There are also other side-effects to this discovery. Everything is “connected.” All particles on the quantum level know what the other particles are doing, regardless of distance, instantaneously. Let that sink in. Also, there is a size at which, when dividing the particle in half, it becomes “non-local.” It is nowhere and everywhere. Every measurement of the universe in which we reside has a “quantum limitation.”[47][bold, underlining added] 

RaidersNewsUpdate, the website of Tom Horn, re-published an excerpt of this same Koinonia House article with the re-phrased title: “Ignore The Hyper-Dimensional Man Behind the Curtain,” featuring the DVD graphic from the sci-fi movie The Thirteenth Floor. It echoes Missler’s belief that “'Quantum Physics'” and its philosophical implications can be shattering to our presuppositions about our “reality’”: 

Ignore The Hyper-Dimensional Man Behind The Curtain 

There is a movie from a few years back (The Thirteenth Floor) in which the simulated characters of a simulated world are confronted with the fundamental limitations of their “reality.” Because of the limitations of structure, they were forced to conclude they were living within a “program” created by an outside source. Ironically, this is where the physicists of our time find themselves….[48][bold,red added] 

Why do these men market this type of physics? Is it to transform the evangelical worldview from a foundation of absolute truth to one of non-reality? This is precisely what the eastern mystics attempt to do! New Age metaphysicists, and those who follow them, inevitably end up in the occult realm. Compare Missler’s “non-locality” quantum mystical teachings with those of Noel Huntley, PhD—a New Ager and quantum physicist: 

In holistic systems, all parts are in resonance or coherence, which quantum regenerates the whole…. We are familiar with the philosophical statement, ‘As above, so below’ which is based on the axiom of Hermeticism, ‘What is here is everywhere; What is not here is nowhere’. This again is the holographic property…. Leading physicist David Bohm stresses quantum interconnectedness and unbroken wholeness….”[49][bold added] 

Clearly Chuck Missler’s false teachings on “non-locality” are borne in Eastern Mysticism, not true biblical Christianity. 

The TAO of PHYSICS & Eastern Mind Change

In 1975, Fritjof Capra—a research physicist and Eastern mystic—wrote The Tao of Physics (TOP): An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism[50] which went on to become a New Age classic.[51]

To underscore the seriousness of this matter, compare the following excerpts from Capra’s book with Missler’s teachings on “non-locality”: 

• Although the various schools of Eastern mysticism differ in many details, they all emphasize the basic unity of the universe which is the central feature of their teachings. The highest aim for their followers—whether they are Hindus, Buddhists or Taoists—is to become aware of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things, to transcend the notion of an isolated individual self and to identify themselves with the ultimate reality. (TOP, pg. 24) [bold, red added] 
• The further we penetrate into the submicroscopic world, the more we shall realize how the modern physicist, like the Eastern mystic, has come to see the world as a system of inseparable, interacting and ever-moving components with man being an integral part of this system. (TOP, pg. 25) [bold, red added] 
• The most important characteristic of the Eastern world view—one could almost say the essence of it—is the awareness of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality. (TOP, pg. 130) [bold, red added] 
• As we study the various models of subatomic physics we shall see that they express again and again, in different ways, the same insight—that the constituents of matter and the basic phenomena involving them are all interconnected, interrelated and interdependent; that they cannot be understood as isolated entities, but only as integrated parts of the whole. (TOP, pg. 131) [bold added] 
• Quantum theory forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects, but rather as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of a unified whole. This, however, is the way in which Eastern mystics have experienced the world, and some of them have expressed their experience in words which are almost identical with those used by atomic physicists. (TOP, pg. 138) [bold, red added] 
• Quantum theory has abolished the notion of fundamentally separated objects, has introduced the concept of the participator to replace that of the observer, and may even find it necessary to include the human consciousness in its description of the world. It has come to see the universe as an interconnected web of physical and mental relations whose parts are only defined through their connections to the whole. (TOP, pg 142) [bold, red added] 
• Thus the mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within. (TOP, pg. 305) [bold added] 

Note Capra’s conclusion again: “Thus the mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within.” This is Hinduism. This is New Age. This is occult mysticism. 

To underscore this point, it must be pointed out that Marilyn Ferguson discussed Capra’s ideas as integral to providing a framework for the New Age paradigm shift in worldview: 

Our discoveries about the startling nature of reality are a major force for change, undermining common-sense ideas and old institutional philosophies. “The 1980s will be a revolutionary time,” said physicist Fritjof Capra, “because the whole structure of our society does not correspond with the world-view of emerging scientific thought.”[52][bold added]

Ferguson gushed enthusiastically about how Capra’s “new scientific knowledge” could “revise the very data base on which we have built our assumptions, our institutions, our life.” She predicted his views of “interconnected reality” would become “the medium of our transformation.”[53] Indeed, Capra’s work is now recognized as foundational to the entire New Age eastern mindset. And now this same New Age worldview has come into the church world. 

Ferguson also cites New Age leader Gary Zukav and his book The Dancing Wu Li Masters as exemplifying the “emerging paradigm of physics.” According to Ferguson, it is this “role of the mind in constructing reality” that spells the death knell for Western rational science, which needs a “blood transfusion from Eastern thought.”[54] She wrote that 

Zukav’s book takes its title from the Chinese expression for physics, wu li, which he translates as “patterns of organic energy.” 

…Zukav said, we may be approaching “the end of science. Even as we continue to seek understanding, we are learning to accept the limits of our reductionist methods. Only direct experience can give a sense of this nonlocal universe, this realm of connectedness. Enlarged awareness—as in meditation—may carry us past limits of our logic to more complete knowledge. The end of conventional science may mean “the coming of Western civilization, in its own time and in its own way, into the higher dimensions of human experience.”[55] [bold, red added]

Note that “meditation” is emphasized as a way to “experience” the “higher dimensions” of this new science. Here we see a disturbing glimmer of an answer as to why evangelical authors are now promoting the same type of metaphysics taught in Capra’s groundbreaking New Age treatise on Metaphysics. Is it because some believe evangelicals need to experience this same “blood transfusion from Eastern thought”? Does this explain the tremendous rise of activities that practice meditation, contemplation and other altered states of consciousness within the church?

Hermeticism & Metaphysics

These quantum mystical false teachings shared by Missler, Goswami, Talbot, Bohm, Huntley, Capra, and others, are virtually identical because they are drawn from the same Hermetic well. They are not found in the Holy Scriptures. 

As Dr. Huntley admitted in his statements above, these pseudo-scientific metaphysical teachings are totally unbiblical; they are rooted in ancient Hermeticism[56] and have shoots which lead into the New Age, the occult, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and the I-Ching (Chinese book of divination). This “non-local” New Age Metaphysics property—where nothing in the universe is separate, but interconnected—is the essence of the monistic, occult maxim: “as above, so below”; all is One (divine). It also includes many other seductive quantum teachings such as hologram realities (explored in Talbot’s The Holographic Universe), and fractals[57] —which are fractured parts of the whole that cannot be separated from the “non local” system: all is One (i.e., god). 

For example, note once again Missler’s adaptation of David’s Bohm’s views in his Beyond Perception briefing package: 

One of Bohm’s most startling suggestions is that the tangible reality of our everyday lives is really a kind of illusion, like a holographic image. Underlying it is a deeper order of existence, a vast and more primary level of reality that gives birth to all the objects and appearances of our physical world in much the same way that a piece of holographic film gives birth to a hologram. Bohm calls this deeper level of reality the implicate (“enfolded”) order, and he refers to our level of existence as the explicate (unfolded) order. [pg. 21, bold and color added] 

New Age author Michael Talbot, from whom Missler extracted his Bohm quotes and ideas, adds this unsettling insight (conspicuously not mentioned by Missler) regarding Bohm and his “nonlocal” and “holographic” ideas: 

Numerous ancient thinkers also appear to have recognized, or at least intuited, this aspect of reality [Bohm’s nonlocal/holographic beliefs]…. After a shamanic vision of the subtler levels of reality the semimythical ancient Egyptian prophet Hermes Trismegistus employed a slightly different phrasing and said that one of the main keys to knowledge was the understanding that “the without is like the within of things; the small is like the large.” The medieval alchemists, for whom Hermes Trismegistus became a kind of patron saint, distilled the sentiment into the motto “As above, so below.” In talking about the same macrocosm equals microcosm idea the Hindu Visvasara Tantra uses somewhat cruder terms and states simply, “What is here is everywhere.”[58] [bold, red added] 

Talbot recorded these ideas above from two books he cited in The Holographic Universe: Brian Brown’s The Wisdom of the Egyptians and John Woodruffe’s Serpent Power—hardly Christian themes. Christian author Warren B. Smith underscores how these deceptive teachings are integral to the New Age Movement: 

Through his questionable paraphrasing of the Bible, [Eugene] Peterson had already aligned himself in a number of areas with New Age/New Spirituality teachings. One obvious example was where he translated a key verse in the Lord’s Prayer to read “as above, so below” rather than “in earth, as it is in heaven.” “As above, so below” was a term that I was very familiar with from my previous involvement in the New Age Movement. This esoteric saying has been an occult centerpiece for nearly five thousand years. It is alleged by New Age metaphysicians to be the key to all magic and all mysteries. It means that God is not only transcendent — “out there”— but He is also immanent — “in” everyone and everything.[59]bold added] 

Smith also linked this occult maxim with the type of New Age Metaphysics espoused by Missler and other PPP adherents: 

It seems clear to me that quantum physics, the “new” biology, and the “new” math of fractal geometry are being used to provide a seemingly scientific basis for “proving” the “as above, so below” contention that God is “in” everything. We are being asked to believe that all of creation is an interconnected quantum field of energy and “oneness” that is “God.”[60][bold added] 

Pastor Larry DeBruyn concurs with Smith and further connects these quantum mysticism tenets to the occult realm: 

This worldview assumes that reality, both immediate and ultimate, is oneness and love—one soul, one world, as above, so below. Author Graham Hancock explains the latter concept: “There seems to have been an ancient idea, as above, so below, to bring down the perfections of the heavens to earth, and in someway [sic] unite heavens and earth.”  According to Magee, this Hermetic assumption is “the central tenet of Western occultism.”  It is pantheistic monism, a belief system which identifies the divine and nature to be one essence. In other words, to a pantheist if the universe did not exist, God would not exist. So Alexander views that Einstein and Jesus, though from different perspectives, function as revealers of a pantheistic reality of oneness and love. This quantum-spiritual worldview is not Christian for in merging heaven and earth, it denies the separateness of God from nature. Furthermore, in such a quantum-love worldview mysticism becomes the only spirituality by which people can experience oneness with nature.[61][bold, red added] 

Pastor DeBruyn further exposes this esoteric “science” being employed by PPP leaders to redefine reality, the spiritual realm—and the Scripture: 

In fact, and though they may be running ahead of themselves, New Age spiritualists have already merged science and spirituality. The New Spirituality is taking the quantum leap from physics to metaphysics, from what is below to what is above.[62][bold, red added] 

THE TRUTH: 

New Age physics is metaphysics, and thus a “false science.” It is not based upon objective analysis, but on the subjective and sensate. It interprets scientific physics with its own metaphysical view of reality. It is an approach to truth that is at odds with the definitive, declarative, and revealed Word of God. It is in fact a rival, even a replacement, to the Bible that attempts to pry open the closed canon to mystical revelations that lead to occult realms. 

Besides relying on corrupt writings for support (to be discussed in a later installment in this series), PPP adherents consistently rely upon New Age Metaphysics to explain and accommodate their popular new eschatology – Nephilimism, Militant Prayer, and Quantum Mysticism—all of which encompasses hyper-dimensional “star-gate portals,” pagan demonology (mythology), prophetic divination (geomancy), Gnostic revelation, and other occult-related concepts contrary to Scripture. The PPP false doctrines are firmly undergirded with dark and forbidden lore and mystical pseudo-science posing as biblically substantiated truth.[63]

Pastor Larry DeBruyn has continued to warn against the same New Age Physics promoted by Emergent leaders. His admonishment extends to the Metaphysical (Quantum) Mysticism taught by PPP leaders. It attempts to point those caught up in these end-time deceptions back to the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Scripture warns believers against the veneration of the creation, against allowing a philosophy of human consciousness to intrude upon the worship of the Christ. To the Colossians Paul wrote: 

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments (Greek, stoicheia) of the world,
and not after Christ.
(Emphasis Mine, Colossians 2:8, KJV) 

…Thus, one scholar understands that “rudiments” can philosophically and spiritually refer to “the veneration of the divinized elements....” If this be the case, then Paul is warning Christian believers not to allow something like a quantum physical worldview to corrupt their worship of Christ, Who is the One who created everything in the past, and Who is the One who controls everything in the present (Colossians 1:16-17). As to both its origin and endurance, the universe depends upon the Christ of God who “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). So the apostle might be paraphrased to be warning, “Beware lest any man take you captive after the elementary particles of the world, and not after Christ.” Christian spirituality should be based upon the Word, not upon the world; upon Christ, not quarks. [64][bold, red added] 

“And He [Christ] was saying to them,
"You are from below, I am from above;
you are of this world, I am not of this world.”

(John 8:23)

Endnotes:
1. David Thimme, “Law of Attraction and Quantum Physics - 4 Keys to Proper Manifesting,” Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4726258 and http://ezinearticles.com/?Law-of-Attraction-and-Quantum-Physics---4-Keys-to-Proper-Manifesting&id=4726258. Thimme is a holistic health and self-improvement author for EzineArticles.com. 
2. Timothy Ferris, “Weirdness Makes Sense,” NYTimes.Com, Sept. 29, 1996; http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/29/magazine/weirdness-makes-sense.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. Ferris was professor emeritus of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley at the time this article was written. 
3. P.I.D. Radio website, Oct. 3, 2012, “Prophecy Summit: Chuck Missler”; http://www.pidradio.com/2012/10/03/p-i-d-radio-at-prophecy-summit-chuck-missler/. Peering in the Darkness (P.I.D.) Radio is founded/hosted by Derek and Sharon Gilbert. 
4. Sarah H. Leslie, “Quantum Metaphysics: A New Cosmology for the Church, Part 4, Alien Encounters: A Book Review,” July 30, 2013, http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html 
5. Ankerberg & Weldon describe New Age physics as “Quantum physics adopted in support of New Age beliefs or Eastern mysticism”; See: John Ankerberg & John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House, Eugene, OR 1996, pg. 509. 
6. The articles in that Herescope series: “COSMS, CODES, AND CRYPTOLOGIES,” are listed in footnote 63 below. There are many other articles that have been published on Herescope concerning this new eschatology paradigm: see bottom of this post.
7. See: “False Eschatology Arising! – Cosms, Codes, and Cryptologies, Pt. 4, Herescope, May 19, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/05/false-eschatology-arising.html. 
8. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism.
9. The Free Dictionary online, The American Heritage Science Dictionary, copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company; http://www.thefreedictionary.com/quantum+mechanics.
10. Pastor Larry DeBruyn, “Emergent Metaphysics - Part 6: FROM COSMOS, TO CHAOS, TO CONSCIOUSNESS”, Herescope, Nov. 3, 2010; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/11/emergent-metaphysics.html. 
11. For a description of what “channeling” is, see the Herescope article “Entertaining ET,” the last subsection “Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils,” http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertaining-et.html 
12. Ibid. Wikipedia, Quantum Mysticism. 
13. See the Quantum Activist website; http://www.quantumactivist.com/. 
14. Ibid. Quantum Activist. 
15. A reference to Pastor Larry’s earlier quotation, http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/11/emergent-metaphysics.html. 
16. Warren Smith, The Light That Was Dark: From New Age to Amazing Grace (Mountain Stream Press, 2005). 
17. Warren B. Smith, “The Shack & it’s New Age Leaven: God IN Everything?”, Herescope, June 21, 2008; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/06/shack-its-new-age-leaven.html. 
18. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (J.P. Tarcher, 1980). See especially Chapter 1 “The Conspiracy” which explains this use of language. See also our “Quantum Metaphysics” article on Herescope, subheading “Paranormal Psychotechnologies,” http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html 
19. Ibid, pp. 34, 35, 37. On page 38 Ferguson has an extended discussion about this New Age “revolution” that will be a “Social, scientific, and political” event creating a “new social order.” 
20. Note: Sarah Leslie analyzes Missler’s dialectical transformation techniques in her sobering article: “Nephilim Subhumans: A New Cosmology for the Church, Part 6” (Alien Encounters Book Review), subheading “The Madness is in the Method,” Herescope, Aug. 23, 2013; See: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/08/nephilim-subhumans.html. 
21. Thomas Horn, God’s Ghostbusters: Vampires? Ghosts? Aliens? Werewolves? Creatures of the Night Beware!, Chuck Missler Introduction, Defender Publishing, Crane, MO, 2011, pp. 1, 11-12. 
22. Note: This is an excerpt from a Wikipedia entry on the Hindu Vedas: “Maya is often translated as 'illusion', since our minds construct a subjective experience, which we are in peril of interpreting as reality. Māyā is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates, and governs the illusion and dream of duality in the phenomenal Universe. For some mystics, this manifestation is real.Each person, each physical object, from the perspective of eternity, is like a brief, disturbed drop of water from an unbounded ocean. The goal of enlightenment is to understand this—more precisely, to experience this: to see that the distinction between the self and the Universe is a false dichotomy. The distinction between consciousness and physical matter, between mind and body (refer bodymind), is the result of an unenlightened perspective.” See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion). 
23. See the Quantum Activist website; http://www.quantumactivist.com/. 
24. Ibid. God’s Ghostbusters, pg. 11. See also: Gaylene Goodroad, “Quantum Mysticism in the Church - COSMS, CODES, AND CRYPTOLOGIES PART 1: Crossing the Boundaries of Reality and Scripture”, Herescope, May 12, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/05/quantum-mysticism-in-church.html. 
25. Pastor Larry DeBruyn, “’My Proof of Heaven’: A Review and Theological Commentary”; http://guardinghisflock.com/2012/11/22/the-proof-of-heaven-a-theological-review-and-commentary/. 
26. Note: Missler was heavily influenced by Bohm’s teachings; Bohm was heavily influenced by Hindu teachings. Bohm had extensive dialogues with noted Hindu, J. Kristnamurti. See: “The Bohm-Kristnamurti Project: Exploring the Legacy of the David Bohm and Jiddu Kristnamurti Relationship”; http://bohmkrishnamurti.com/. See also: Gaylene Goodroad, “Doomsday Datesetters 2012,” Herescope, June 10, 2011; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/06/doomsday-datesetters-2012.html and also: Gaylene Goodroad, “Quantum Mysticism in the Church - Cosms, Codes, & Cryptologies Part 1: Crossing the Boundaries of Reality and Scripture”, Herescope, May 12, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/05/quantum-mysticism-in-church.html. 
27. Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, Hidden Messages from the Edge of Eternity, Koinonia House, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 1999 (Revised 2004), pg. 339. Note: this quote actually belongs to Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 1991 (soft cover ed. 1992), pg. 41. Missler used Talbot’s work without citing proper attribution, giving readers the impression that he was the original author/researcher of these ideas. This is fully documented in the article cited in footnote 28 below. 
28. Gaylene Goodroad, “Without Attribution: Purloining New Age Ideas,” Herescope, August 7, 2013; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/08/without-attribution.html. Note: For background and analysis to the discovery of the New Age and occult ideas shared by Missler, Bohm, Ferguson, Bohr and Talbot, see Sarah Leslie’s 6-part in-depth article series, “Quantum Metaphysics: A New Cosmology for the Church” (Alien Encounters book review), Herescope. Especially see: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html. 
29. Chuck Missler, YouTube video, “Missing Attributions in Cosmic Codes”, Lyonshead Media Ltd., August 20, 2013; See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgUsbk9AqZ8&feature=player_embedded. Note: Missler imported several extensive passages from Talbot’s book, including a prominent hologram graphic without proper attribution. Most of these excerpts were word-for-word and line-by-line and others with slight modifications from Talbot’s original writing (see the article in the above footnote for full documentation). It does not seem probable, given the sheer volume of “missing attributions” (and past history), that these massive omissions could have transpired by accidental or “sloppy” scholarship as Mr. Missler insinuates in his video. Nevertheless, it is commendable that he has publicly acknowledged incorporating Talbot’s writings and ideas into his own published book, Cosmic Codes: Messages from the Edge of Eternity. 
30. Michael Talbot, Mysticism and the New Physics, first Published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, revised and updated edition published by Arkana 1993, printed and bound by Anthony Rowe Ltd., Chippenham, Wiltshire, Great Britain (Penguin/Arkana publishers, London, New York, Victoria Australia, Ontario, Auckland, New Zealand, Middlesex, Great Britain), Introduction, pp. 1-2. 
31. Ibid. Talbot, Mysticism and the New Physics, back cover. 
32. Geoff Haselhurst, On Truth & Reality – The Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) in Space” and “Essay on Life & Ideas of David Bohm”; http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Physics-David-Bohm-Holographic-Universe.htm and http://www.essays.cc/free_essays/e4/dkt106.shtml. 
33. See “koan”: Merriam-Webster online dictionary; See also: note in Concise Encyclopedia: “In ZEN Buddhism, a brief paradoxical statement or question used as a discipline in MEDITATION. The effort to solve a koan is designed to exhaust the analytic intellect and the will, leaving the mind open for response on an intuitive level. There are about 1,700 traditional koans, which are based on anecdotes from ancient Zen masters. They include the well-known example “When both hands are clapped a sound is produced; listen to the sound of one hand clapping”; http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/koan. 
34. Ibid. David Thimme. 
35. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_attraction. 
36. For an in-depth look at this subject, note this technical paper written by engineer, researcher, and occultist, Rinaldo Lampis, “Quantum Mechanics, Non-locality and the Structure of the Invisible World [A]: The Physics of Mind as the Basis of Reality”; http://blog.hasslberger.com/QuantumMechanics-Nonlocality-Lampis.pdf. Also note Mr. Lampis’ bio; http://www.spiritaction.net/. 
37. Janeen Detrick, PhD, “The Science Behind How The Law Of Attraction Works: Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and String Theory”, June 18, 2011; http://www.goodvibesclinic.com/the-science-behind-the-law-of-attraction/. Note Dr. Detrick’s bio: "Janeen Detrick is a Personal Development Coach through Prosper, Inc., in Provo, Utah, where she helps people all over the world to clear their blocks so they can create miracles in their lives! She has a 30 year career as a real estate investor and real estate broker. Janeen studied theology at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, and received her Bachelor and Master of Sciences degrees through the University of Metaphysical Sciences. She obtained her Doctorate through Minnesota University’s School of Metaphysical Sciences, earning her PhD in Transpersonal Counseling. Magnifying her gifts of teaching and healing, Janeen owns Good Vibrations Energy Clinic, LLC., where she utilizes her training in a myriad of holistic healing modalities through distance healing sessions with clients internationally." Note: New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) author, inventor, and quantum physicist, David van Koevering, teaches similar ideas. See his article, “Keys to Taking Your Quantum Leap”, that was published in the August 2007 issue of ElijahRain Magazine (Missler is mentioned); See: http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/6762. 
38. Ibid. Dr. Detrick. 
39. Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman, Alien Encounters: the Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon Koinonia House, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 1997 (Sixth Printing, 2009). See also an online version (missing the footnotes); http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/ufologia/Alien%20Encounters.pdf; and Sarah Leslie, “Quantum Metaphysics: A New Cosmology for the Church, Part 4” (Alien Encounters Book Review), Herescope, July 30, 2013; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html. 
40. Chuck Missler, “The Realm of Angels,” http://www.khouse.org/articles/2012/1044/print/ Herescope previously published something about this article in Gaylene Goodroad’s article “Quantum Prophecy,” http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/05/quantum-prophecy.html. 
41. Ibid, Alien Encounters, pg. 83. 
42. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_yang 
43. Sarah Leslie, “Quantum Metaphysics: A New Cosmology for the Church,” Part 4 (Alien Encounters Book Review), Herescope, July 30, 2013; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html. See a full discussion of Neils Bohr, with graphic illustrations, under the subheading “’Ghostly Images’ of Un-Reality.” Note that Marilyn Ferguson cites Bohr, as does Talbot, as one whose ideas provided a foundation to New Age metaphysics. 
44. The Discernment Research Group has written extensively on this topic; See: “Nephilim Eschatology, Parts 1 & 2”, July 10 & 21, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-serpent-seed-nephilim.html; and http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/07/nephilim-eschatology.html. See also, “Homo Nephilus” May 1, 2013; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/05/homo-nephilus_6651.html; “The ‘Return’ of the Alien Super Soldier”; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-return-of-alien-super-soldier.html and “Nephilim Subhumans,” August 23, 2013; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/08/nephilim-subhumans.html. 
45. Sarah Leslie, “Quantum Metaphysics: A New Cosmology for the Church,” Part 4 (Alien Encounters Book Review), Herescope, July 30, 2013; See: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/07/quantum-metaphysics.html. 
46. Missler’s Supplemental Notes for his Beyond Perception Briefing Package; http://nicolepark.info/sites/default/files/chuckMissler/Beyond_Perception_Notes.pdf. See also: 5-Part KHouse 66/40 radio broadcast, “Beyond Perception”; http://www.khouse.org/6640/BP024/. 
47. K-House eNews for June 4, 2013, “Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain”; http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2013/2092/print/. 
48. RaidersNewsUpdate (RNU) June 8, 2013; http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/. 
49. Noel Huntley, PhD, “A Holographic Universe?” August 2003; http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~noelh/Holographic_universe.htm; See also, “A Fractal Matrix,”; http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~noelh/BasicModel_Part%20I.htm. 
50. Fritjjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boulder, CO, 1975. 
51. Note: I first became aware of Capra’s mystical New Age philosophy during my years of martial arts training. Later as an instructor, I unfortunately taught these deceptions to others. After my conversion, I renounced both of my black belts, left the combat arts, and wrote an e-book about these false teachings that not only fail to line up with Scripture, but tragically lead followers away from Christ. To access this free online booklet, See: “My Life in the Way: from the Broad Way of the East to the Narrow Way of Christ”; http://www.mylifeintheway.blogspot.com (click the link on the bottom of the page). 
52. Ferguson, p. 145. 
53. Ibid. 
54. Ibid, pp. 172-3. The quotation about “blood transfusion” is attributed to Erwin Schrodinger. 
55. Ibid, p. 172. 
56. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism. 
57. Ibid. Huntley’s “A Fractal Matrix.” Note: Gary Stearman and the late J.R. Church were featured in a video published on YouTube May 24 from a January 2009 broadcast of the Prophecy in the News (PITN) TV program called, “Fractals, God's Intelligent Design” in which they give credence to these New Age notions as though they were sound, biblical concepts; https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vS4ZuFqRxdo. The program was based on an article written by Stearman for PITN Magazine that year which is no longer available in print, but is excerpted online. See: Gary Stearman, “Fractals: The Intelligence Of God’s Design - Is Creation A Series Of Divine Algorithms?” January 5, 2009; http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2009/01/fractals-intelligence-of-gods-design-is.html#. 
58. Ibid. Talbot, pp. 290, 326; See: footnote #24. 
59. Ibid. Smith critique on The Shack. 
60. Gaylene Goodroad, “Quantum Mysticism in the Church - Cosms, Codes, and Cryptologies, Pt. 1: Crossing the Boundaries of Reality and Scripture”, Herescope, May 12, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/05/quantum-mysticism-in-church.html. 
61. Ibid. Pastor Larry DeBruyn, “My Proof of Heaven”. 
62. Pastor Larry DeBruyn, “Quantum Physics and the New Spirituality - From Cosmos, to Chaos, to Consciousness: Pt. 1”, Herescope, Oct. 22, 2010; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/10/quantum-physics-and-new-spirituality.html. 
63. See: “12-21-12: Evangelical Christians Believing Mayan Prophecies,” Herescope, Dec. 6, 2012; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/12/12-21-12.html. In the Spring of 2012 we wrote a lengthy series of articles looking at this whole issue in-depth. Again, we hoped that calling attention to such wild and zany misapplications of biblical prophecy that perhaps people would come to their senses and recognize that there was a real problem. We warned that there was an entirely new ESCHATOLOGY (last days scenarios) arising that blended the Bible with these pagan sources. Below is a list of articles that detail the evangelical leaders caught up in this prophecy heresy: 
Part 1: QUANTUM MYSTICISM IN THE CHURCH
 
Part 2: COSMIC CRYPTOLOGY IN THE CHURCH
 
Part 3: The Emerging ENIGMA Bible
 
Part 4: False Eschatology Arising!
 
Part 5: Quantum Teleporting Through Time
 
Part 6: Quantum Geomancy and Cryptic Mystic Math 
 
Part 7: Quantum Prophecy 
 
Part 8: A Quantum Cosmic Christ
 
Part 9: Quantum Mysticism Goes to Market

64. See: Pastor Larry DeBruyn, “Emergent Metaphysics: From Cosmos, to Chaos, to Consciousness,” Herescope, Nov. 3, 2010; http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/11/emergent-metaphysics.html. 

For other articles on these topics, see the following selection:
New Age Date Setting
Doomsday Datesetters 2012
Militant Prayer: Taking Spiritual Dominion Over Dark Angels
  
"Nephilim Eschatology: A Crash Course in the Emerging Endtime Prophecy Heresy"

Part 1: Nephilim-induced Human DNA Corruption

Part 2: The Serpent Seed & the Nephilim 

12-12-12:  NAR Date Setting

12-21-12: Evangelical Christians Believing Mayan Prophecies
2012 & Fantasy-Driven Faith
2012: New Agers & Mayan Prophecies
“Babylon Rising” and Canon in Crisis: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Fresh Revelations, and an “Open” Canon
The Emerging Galactic Religion: Science Fiction and the Rise of Technocratic Posthumanism
The Rise of Apocalyptic Paganism in the Church: Bible Prophecy in Crisis
“In the Days of Noah”—What Scripture teaches about Noah & Enoch 
Prophecy Mongering: Profiting from the Promulgation of End-Time CRI$I$ Scenarios
101 Questions about "the Nephilim": The New Prophetic Paradigm: Questions Regarding Genesis 6 and Matthew 24 
Add-Ons: Augmenting Scripture With Diverse and Strange Doctrines
A New Cosmology for the Church: Alien Encounters: A Book Review by Sarah H. Leslie
·      Part 1: Alien Encounters
·      Part 2: Ancient Astronauts & Star Children
·      Part 3: Flying Saucers and “Interdimensional Visitors”
·      Part 4: Quantum Metaphysics
·      Part 5: Entertaining ET
·      Part 6: Nephilim Subhumans
Without Attribution: Purloining New Age Ideas by Gaylene Goodroad.
With Attributions: Some Thoughts on Chuck Missler’s “You Tube” Apology by Pastor Larry DeBruyn
Doctrines of Demons by Pastor Anton Bosch
The Supreme Supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ: Christ Before Cosmos by Pastor Larry DeBruyn
The Gap Theory: A Review and Grammatical Critique: From Cosmos to Chaos, and Cosmos Again by Pastor Larry DeBruyn
RAPTURE ALREADY: Apocalyptic Visitations to the Afterlife and Visions of the End by Pastor Larry DeBruyn
Babylonianism at the Gates: Christians and the Encircling World of the Occult by Pastor Larry DeBruyn
“Deliteralizing” the Bible: from Plato to Peterson: Scripture amidst the Shadows by Pastor Larry DeBruyn