Roots of Seduction

An excerpt from Chapter 6 of The Seduction of Christianity, published in 1985.

"From this root of delusion the entire tree of sorcery has sprung forth and blossomed."

One cannot possibly investigate what is happening in both the world and the church today without becoming convinced that end-time prophecy is being uniquely fulfilled. The lie that will be believed by everyone when that "deluding influence" sweeps the world during the end times is already becoming the "new truth." Not only is this lie the foundation of the New Age movement, but it is being embraced within the church....

Only a few years ago it was extremely difficult to convince Christians that Mormons hoped to become gods. Anyone who said that was likely to be accused of having it in for Mormons and spreading lies about them. Today many Christians themselves believe not that they are going to become gods like the Mormons, but that they already are god, like the Hindus, and just need to "realize" it. And they even support this idea with selected Bible verses....In Psalm 82 God's judgment was pronounced against the rulers of Israel because they were acting like gods who were a law unto themselves. In verses 6 and 7 God stated: "I said, 'You are gods....Nevertheless you will die like men."

This Scripture and Jesus' quotation of it [John:10:34Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
See All...] has given comfort to cultists and occultists and caused confusion among the unlearned. Mormons, for example, point to it as justification for their goal of godhood and support for their teaching that Satan told the truth when he offered godhood to Eve. Clearly that is a false application, for Psalm 82 does not say, "Ye shall become gods," as Mormons hope, but "Ye are gods." So whatever is meant by this statement, it refers to something that humans already are, not to some new status that we will eventually attain.

There is only one true God. All other gods are false and are demonic beings in rebellion against the true God. Through the fall, man had become like one of these false gods. Not only did Jesus say to the religious leaders of His day, "Ye are gods," but He also said, "You are of your father the devil" (John:8:44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
See All...). It was a terrible indictment....

The noted historian Arnold Toynbee, after studying civilizations across the whole span of history, concluded that self-worship was the paramount religion of mankind, although it appeared in various guises. Man (i.e., self) is the "God" of atheistic humanism. Of course he is not God in the classical biblical sense of the Creator who made everything out of nothing and is separate and distinct from His creation. This true God is denied in the religion of Antichrist, as we have already seen, so that self may be enthroned in His place (2 Thessalonians:2:4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
See All...). In humanism, as in Mormonism, Unity, Religious Science, Hinduism, and other New Age philosophies, man has become god, 1) through an evolutionary process, and 2) by mastering the forces inherent in nature or the cosmos. This was the superman of Nietzsche and Hitler. It is only within the past 25 years, however [as of 1985], that this obsession has become the popular religion of the masses. Historian Herbert Schlossberg has said:

Exalting mankind to the status of deity therefore dates from the furthest reaches of antiquity, but its development into an ideology embracing the masses is a characteristic of modernity.

It should be added that "its development into an ideology embracing the masses" and its spreading in the church would seem to be a clear fulfillment of prophecy and a solemn indication that the second coming of Christ could be very near. For those who reject the Positive Confession point of view, Satan cleverly puts the same lie in a package that will appeal to them: the pseudoscientific language of psychology. The magician's deep silk hat from which Christian intellectuals have been persuaded that they can pull forth magic mind powers is called the subconscious. This supposedly holds the key to miraculous healings of body, soul, spirit, mind, and emotions. Satan reinforces his promise of godhood with the lie that we have all we need within us. If we only know how to get in touch with our true self, then we can tap into this power.

The entire smorgasbord of therapies being encouraged by some Christian leaders is being sampled by Christians in one form or another, either out in the secular world or inside the church. Much of this influence has come into the church through Christian psychology and the pseudopsychologies of inner healing and healing of memories. The common denominator is self. Not everyone would identify with the desire to become a god, but that is the lie that hooked not only Eve but her descendants. And to whatever extent we seek our own will, seek to use God to bring about our will, pander to our self-centered desires, or in any way are afraid or unwilling to surrender wholly to God's will—to that extent we are exalting ourselves to the position of gods, whether we call it that or not. The teaching is spreading that we don't ask God, but command Him to give us all that is our divine right to possess and enjoy.

Whatever the label on the package, the product inside is the same old satanic ploy: "The answer is within ourselves." We can "do it" if we only learn the "laws" and "principles" that apply and put them into operation by "faith." The goal is always to reward self in some way. Though called by many names, it is still the lie that the Bible prophesies will become the new "truth" upon which Antichrist's kingdom will be built and which will eventually prove to be a foundation of sand. From this root of delusion the entire tree of sorcery has sprung forth and blossomed, and is now bearing the evil fruit that is so greedily being devoured by this generation.