Our Spiritual Adversary would have everyone believe that we are all “one” because God is “in” everyone and everything. Using every promotional means possible—including a creative and ingenious perversion of quantum physics—he is attempting to convince the world and the church that while Jesus was Christ, so is everyone. And while Jesus was God, so is everyone else.[1]
By Sarah H. Leslie
For the 20+ years that I've known Warren Smith he has been consistently warning about this rising heresy. In fact, in 2007 Herescope ran an excerpt from an updated Internet version of Smith's 2002 book Reinventing Jesus Christ where he described his meditation experiences while he was in the New Age Movement. He explained how he was supposed to "be still" so that he could then affirm that "I am God":
In our New Age meditations we would often meditate on and contemplate certain passages of Scripture. At an Edgar Cayce conference I once attended, we began each day by meditating on Psalm 46:10—“Be still, and know that I am God.” Looking back on that experience now, I realize why that particular verse of Psalm 46 was used by so many New Age groups for contemplation. The spirit world was only too willing to take something God was saying about Himself and translate it into something that the New Age was saying about man. It was very clever.
We were being “still” and we were quoting Scripture, but we were continually affirming that we were God by emphasizing the “I” and repeating the phrase “I am God” over and over again. We were “going within” to the “God within”—“Be still” and know that “I” am God. In our unguarded state of “being still” we were not being taught that God was God. We were being taught that we were God.
The “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles also used Psalm 46:10 to teach this New Age concept. We were to “be still” and to “know” that we were “God.” This false Jesus actually used the “Be still” verse to preface his false teaching that “the journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.’” Our New Age journey was around the cross not through the cross. We were being taught by A Course in Miracles and our other New Age teachings that if we were “being still,” and if we “knew” that we were God, then we didn’t need the cross and we didn’t need Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We could save ourselves by “being still” and “awakening” to the inner “self-realization” that we were God. A Course in Miracles lesson number 70 is “My salvation comes from me.” (Chapter 5 Update, subsection "Be Still")[2]
Smith's latest booklet first presents a helpful summary of biblical truth. Smith then recounts example after example of the error as it has been taught by New Agers and church leaders over the past eight decades. Seeing these quotations compiled together in one long list illustrates the magnitude of the problem. The evangelical church world has been tolerating these heretical teachings, probably because the leaders were so "esteemed," for a long time!
Smith diligently and effectively counters these false teachings, and makes the following observations about their significance in the world today:
Scripture makes it clear that God is not an immanent/quantum/panentheistic force or “ground of all being” that interpenetrates His creation. Scripture exhorts believers to lay up “a good foundation”—the true Jesus Christ—for the challenging days ahead. It also warns us to beware of a false foundation that purports to be scientifically proven—like the quantum/New Age/New Spirituality. God is our creator, but He is not “quantum-ly” embedded in His creation. He is not “in” everyone and everything....
It has been rightly said that God is God and we are not. However, tremendous pressure is being continually mounted to convince everyone there is a New Age/New Spirituality/New Worldview that can save the world from its present problems. We are being told that if we accept the new revelation that “we are all one” because “God is in everyone and everything” then world peace can happen. But we know from Scripture that a false Christ—Antichrist—“shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice” and “by peace shall destroy many” (Daniel 8:25). The Bible warns that what will appear to be a wonderful “peace and safety” will suddenly turn into terrible “destruction” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Be Still and Know That You are Not God!—God is Not “in” Everyone and Everything is available from Lighthouse Trails and can be accessed in its entirety online. Purchasing information for the booklet is posted at the same page: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=17572. It is well worth a read!
For those who wish to do further research on this topic, see Pastor Larry DeBruyn's excellent biblical analysis of the Psalm 46:10 passage in his article "Be Still: Contemplative or Listening Prayer & Psalm 46:10" posted on Herescope.[3]
Endnotes:
1. Be Still and Know That You are Not God!—God is Not “in” Everyone and Everything, Warren B. Smith, http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=17572
2. Read: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-is-rethinking.html
3. Read: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/09/be-still.html