Thus saith the LORD,
Learn not the way of the heathen,
and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven;
for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jeremiah 10:2
主はこう言われる、「異邦の人の道に習ってはならない。また異邦の人が天に現れるしるしを恐れても、あなたがたはそれを恐れてはならない。
--Jainism
--Theosophy
--Baha'i
--Path from Babel to the Counterfeit Religions
--Closing Question
Jainism
Began in India. Jains believe in reincarnation. The 24 tirthankara were enlightened men succeeding each one until the 24th codified the religion as is and declared no more tirthankaras. The tirthakara were thought to have found the way to enlightenment and passed it on to their followers.They believe in following four restraints (involving nonviolence, nonlying, not taking what has not been given, and nonpossession) attributed to tirthakara Pārśva, and the the five vows (the four
The believe in strict ethics and rituals. For example they try not kill plants, animals or humans.
Their monks and nuns wear masks so as not to swallow an insect by accident and some carry brooms to sweep away insects where they walk so as to not hurt or kill any.
They believe karma is a particle substance and the dirty karma sticks to the soul.
Lay persons rack up good karma so as to reincarnate better. Heavy on salvation by works (for them meaning eventual release from reincarnation).
They believe souls are contaminated by matter and therefore own very little.
Their canon of Scriptures was compiled at a council of wise men around 300 B.C. from memory based on teachings verbally passed along from the 24 tirthakara.
They split into two denominations:
The Digambara (sky-clad) whose monks give up all possessions and go about naked. They also reject their Scriptures as authoratative.
The The Śvētāmbara (white-clad) monks wear white robes and are accused by the Digambara of being sell outs for owning a robe. This branch takes their Scriptures serious.
Theosophy
Began with the Russian mystic immigrant to America Madam Blavatsky in the late 1800's. It's offshoot in the 1900's was the New Age movement. It called it's own science "occult science" that evolves with the cosmic cycles.
They borrow heavily from Hinduism, Darwinian evolution and Madam Blavatsky's visions. They believe in the universal brotherhood of mankind (despite racist teachings).
They believe in the Divine Absolute, which is the ultimate wisdom of the universe.
They believe in previous masters who attained secret wisdom (mostly Buddhists in Tibet). They have Chela's (borrowed from Hinduism) where a Chela is a pupil of a guru who guides them into secret knowledge. Some practice Agni Yoga to achieve the fire energy within (Agni is a god in Hindu texts).
They believe in reincarnation and karma. They also believe in flashbacks of past lives.
They believe that divine absolute is found in the inner self through meditation and is reflected via the material universe around you. They study all world religions and philosophies for scraps of wisdom. They don't believe miracles are possible.
They teach that religious dogma and faith crush the soul.
Some of their symbols include the serpents head and the Om, a sacred syllable from the Hindu Vedas.
It teaches the 7 Root Races, where humanity goes through a sort of Darwinian evolution, both physically and spiritually. The first began as a mindless, bodiless entity. We are in root 5. Root 4 began with the lost city of Atlantis. They believe in root 4 that Neanderthals evolved into Atlantians. They have a whole history of Atlantis worked out.
Our current 5th root has evolved into the Aryan race. Clearly they bought into Darwin's view on the races at the time (remember that his book was actually titled Origin of the species and the preservation of the favored races). Blavatsky taught that Jews were spiritually degenerates during this 5th root.
She also taught that the 6th root will begin to evolve in the United States in the 21st century. The 7th root will arise around the 28th century in the Pacific and earth will eventually end due to natural disasters. Human souls will then migrate to the planet Mercury and continue reincarnation.
An offshoot of these teachings was known as Ariosophy. It was a pagan/occult revival in Germany and Austria in the 1930's and was the basis for Nazi Occultic views.
Blavatsky published a magazine called "Lucifer Magazine".
Baha'i
Baha'i arose in the late 1800's from out of Shia Islam led by Bahaullah. Arose in Iran and Iraq.
He taught there is one unknown god.
They believe there were messengers sent including Zoroaster (Zoroasterism), Christ (Christianity), Buddha (Buddhism), Mohammed (Islam), Krishna (Hinduism), and Moses (Judaism). Each received a unique message.
It seeks to unify all religions. Borrows heavily from Islam, Zoroasterism, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.
Bahaullah was a follower of the Bab who claimed he was called to declare another messenger was to come: Bahaullah was declared to be that messenger.
Their main sacred text is the "Most Holy Book" written by Bahaullah.
Followers are encouraged to make at least one pilgrimage to the tomb of Bab during their lifetime. They are to abstain from partisan politics.
Heaven and Hell are nearness to their universal god or distance from their universal god. Basically at death one enters a spiritual timelessness either close to their god or far from their god.
One of their sacred texts written by Bahaullah is called the Seven Valleys. It teaches a mystical way of traversing seven stages of life's path to spiritual wisdom. They also believe the world should have one language.
Houses of worship have 9 sides. There are no clergy. People gather to pray and recite passages from any and all religions holy books. The number 9 is considered sacred.
They believe that time, and the creation, has no beginning or end. Rather there is just progressive revelation from their god through messengers.
The apocalyptic writings of Christianity and Islam are interpreted to mean the passing away of the dross that covers the reflection of God in the mirror of creation. It is based on their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Path from Babel to the COUNTERFEIT RELIGIONS:
ROOT of Their REBELLION
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower,
whose top may reach unto heaven;
and let us make us a name,
lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower,
whose top may reach unto heaven;
and let us make us a name,
lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:4
3 Goals:
-1- A City
-2- A Tower
-3- A Name
--The city was in direct rebellion against the word of God - Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Genesis 9:1
--The tower they tried to build up to heaven by their own might.
So too does the sins of Babylon in the end reach unto heaven - For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Revelation 18:5
We don't need a man-made tower...we already have a strong tower - The name of the LORD is a strong tower: Proverbs 18:10
--The name they tried to make for themselves was rooted in pride...pride is how this war all began - How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!,..For thou hast said in thine heart, ...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:12-14
"I" is the Root of this REBELLION----- Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4 NIV
"They lost God, because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21.
They attributed everything to themselves,
--and as self was advanced,
--faith in God decreased,
till they were in the darkness of idolatry." -- And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
E.J. Waggoner/Romans 1:23
"The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion."
E.G.W.
REINCARNATION (where you never really die) -- The Quest for Immortality:
Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:15,16
"Fifteenth chapter of Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, paragraph 17; he says of the heathen in the inquiry after the immortality of the soul:
"In the sublime inquiry, their reason had been often guided by their imagination, and their imagination had been prompted by their vanity."
*When they viewed with complacency the extent of their own mental powers,
-a-when they exercised the various faculties of
memory, of fancy, and of judgment, in the most profound speculations, or the most important labors,
-b- and when they reflected on the desire of fame, which transported them into future ages, far beyond the bonds of death and of the grave;
-c- they were unwilling to confound themselves with the beasts of the field or to suppose that a being, for whose dignity they entertained the most sincere admiration,
-d- could be limited to a spot of earth and to a few years of duration.
*What is that but the description of Satan's career when he started.
-a- His reason prompted by his imagination; his imagination guided by his vanity,
-b- and viewing with complacency the extent of his own mental powers; the desire for fame beyond that of God,
-c- and unwilling to allow that a person for whose dignity he entertained the most sincere admiration
-d- could be properly confined to a subordinate place in the universe of God.
Q: Is not this an exact description of mankind in a heathen condition, written by a philosopher, looking only at the question from man's side of it?
Q: Could there be a clearer description of the working of Satan in his original career?"
A.T. Jones 1893 Sermon
"Fifteenth chapter of Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, paragraph 17; he says of the heathen in the inquiry after the immortality of the soul:
"In the sublime inquiry, their reason had been often guided by their imagination, and their imagination had been prompted by their vanity."
--The Formula--
Vanity the root of the inquiry,
and self the root of the vanity.
I read on:*When they viewed with complacency the extent of their own mental powers,
-a-when they exercised the various faculties of
-b- and when they reflected on the desire of fame, which transported them into future ages, far beyond the bonds of death and of the grave;
-c- they were unwilling to confound themselves with the beasts of the field or to suppose that a being, for whose dignity they entertained the most sincere admiration,
-d- could be limited to a spot of earth and to a few years of duration.
*What is that but the description of Satan's career when he started.
-a- His reason prompted by his imagination; his imagination guided by his vanity,
-c- and unwilling to allow that a person for whose dignity he entertained the most sincere admiration
-d- could be properly confined to a subordinate place in the universe of God.
Q: Is not this an exact description of mankind in a heathen condition, written by a philosopher, looking only at the question from man's side of it?
Q: Could there be a clearer description of the working of Satan in his original career?"
A.T. Jones 1893 Sermon
Closing Question:
Q: Will Non-believers be in the 1st Resurrection?
A: --Look at the Sanctuary (plan of redemption laid out)
1) Paul tells us -
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 9:22
a) What was this "blood" for?
For this is My blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Matthew 26:28
b) Almost? (How without the "blood"?)
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts,
for their own conscience and
thoughts either accuse them
or tell them they are doing right.
Romans 2:14,15
----- In the Sanctuary the blood sacrifice was required for the forgiveness of sins. But there was a small opening, through mercy, for those too poor to afford a lamb or turtle dove for the blood offering.
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They could bring flour. Hence, Paul is referring to that with the word "ALMOST all things" when referring to the blood sacrifice.
In other words, there is an opening for a few, who never believing on the blood sacrifice of Christ (because they hadn't the chance to hear) could be judged based upon the law God implants in our conscience. But this would be very rare, as was the flour sacrifice.
2) Paul also informs us -
Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
So in other words, no one (via the "flour" route in the Sanctuary) will be saved because they followed their pagan religion faithfully.
Another way to say it--God does NOT believe in pluralism for salvation. A person who might be in the 1st resurrection, but never heard the name of Christ, won't be there because they were a good Hindu, Buddhist, etc. Their pagan religion has NOTHING to do with their salvation.
3) What does this show?
This shows the atheists, who like to mock Christians with the taunt of "What kind of God would destroy people who never got a chance to hear of Him"? ...that God left open one last avenue for the lost, though a small one, albeit an opening none the less. One last drop of MERCY.
...for God is love.
1 John 4:8
"Satan had blinded them.----Among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, He sees men and women who are praying for light and knowledge. Their souls are unsatisfied; long have they fed on ashes. The enemy of all righteousness has turned them aside, and they grope as blind men. But they are honest in heart and desire to learn a better way. Although in the depths of heathenism, with no knowledge of the written law of God nor of His Son Jesus, they have revealed in manifold ways the working of a divine power on mind
and character.
Heaven's plan of salvation is broad enough to embrace the whole world. God longs to breathe into prostrate humanity the breath of life. And He will not permit any soul to be disappointed who is sincere in his longing for something higher and nobler than anything the world can offer.
God’s test of heathen, who have not the light, and of those living where the knowledge of truth and light has been abundant, is altogether different. He accepts from those in heathen lands a phase of righteousness which does not satisfy Him when offered by those of Christian lands. He does not require much where much has not been bestowed."
Ellen G. White
"Let it be observed, I purposely add, ‘to those that are under the Christian dispensation,’ because I have no authority from the Word of God ‘to judge those that are without.’ Nor do I conceive that any man living has a right to sentence all the heathen and Mahometan world to damnation. It is far better to leave them to Him that made them, and who is ‘the Father of the spirits of all flesh,’ ...and who hateth nothing that He hath made."
John Wesley
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