The Initiation

Now you know how I ended up with a guru. By free will, I stayed. I can’t site anyone holding me hostage because my church didn't work like that--and few really do hold you an actual physical hostage. We become mental hostages through motivational psychology. You can come and go as you will in most churches, and mine wasn't different.

They didn't make threats to keep me, nor did they go to any great lengths to find out what happened to me when I left. No one called, as they were told to let "us go," that we were ignorant and its best not to associate with ignorance. Besides, there was always the possibility we'd come back. They don't worry about devotees speaking out about the teachings because you take an oath to keep their teachings secret. We were instructed to never to read anything but their material, never look left or right but straight on their path. We were told we could not understand the Bible because only a Master Guru could interpret it; that Western religions had it all wrong. Jesus sanctioned their teachings. Jesus was a guru.

Jesus learned this Kriya technique in India. Jesus was teaching Kriya to his close disciples. They claimed many churches used their meditation techniques and that they were a church of all religions and that their teachings were not in conflict with anything Christians believed. Our relationship with Jesus would improve with their teachings.

We were told never to take notes at services and never, never post anything on that "horrible Internet," (but I did anyways--notes for later review). We were told we would "water down the teachings" if we wrote them down, they would no longer be pure but polluted. They guarded their teachings.

To take the oath and to receive the secret teachings of Kriya Yoga, we were required to finish the lessons I spoke about before, and then take a test to see if you're ready. Once you're affirmed you're sent the techniques by mail, but you must wait for a Kriya ceremony, and these are done once or twice a year in special locations and by special monks who are allowed to give the special dispensation. Every summer at a Los Angeles hotel, they give Kriya Initiation. It is the end of a week long convocation where members serve other members like slaves. I kid you not...the servers have to watch the speakers in the basement of the hotel because the other members were more worthy of better seats! I have hundreds of examples of these control issues, but the point is, they are having these convocations to initiate new members they recruited through the mail-order teachings and using the older members to serve them unconditionally. We were forced to have meetings after meetings after meetings after meetings about what our job was at these convocations and what it wasn't. I was severely upbraided for wearing sunglasses in the summer in 90 degree sunshine because the "devotees could not see my eyes."

So, people read the guru's autobiography, or find an ad in a yoga magazine, and next thing, they are in L.A. for their initiation.

Now, back at the initiation. You must bring a flower, a fruit offering and a money offering. The fruit and flowers are left at the feet of the guru's picture. The nature of the ceremony is as follows. You dress up. Most members are very conservative. Some wear Indian garb but mostly dressy clothes, men usually suits or dress slacks, women, dresses. Some women wear Indian wool shawls. These teachings attract Indians an they are elevated in status because the guru was Indian.

You're ushered into a quiet room first (if this is done at a temple). After everyone is settled and in silence, they ask if anyone needs a flower or fruit or an envelope for money. Remember no one ever talks in their temples. It's silence, always, but this preliminary initiation is set up to appear mystical, and to prepare us to be in a special (hypnotic) frame of mind.

Once these particulars are out of the way, you are then led into the temple or special room in a hotel. It's now decorated with flowers and lays on the pictures of the gurus. Candles are burning and they light incense during the ceremony to symbolize burning Karma.

Next they meditate for about a half an hour, sitting straight, with feet on the floor, hands up turned, your spine can not slouch. This sitting posture can become very uncomfortable, but it is mandatory that you do not lean on the back of the chair.

Then the sadhu or monk comes out, and he looks especially serious for this, wearing his orange ochre robes, and explains the significance of the oath we're to take, and if you ever leave the guru you will not find him for lifetimes as punishment for your ignorance. He explains that the Kriya Yoga has been passed down through many guru's (Jesus is one of them and this is what he taught his disciples). In reality Kriya Yoga is available by others. The church has tried to keep a copyright on something that is about a bazillion years old.

Next they lead you in the technique of Kriya Yoga. Which is a visualization exercise that involves breathing in through the mouth while making a sound of EEEE and exhaling with the sound of AHHHH, all the while imagining the energy circling the spine. It's done very quietly and controlled. You should not be heard by your fellow mediators. You count with beads. One revolution around the spine is one Kriya and takes about one minute. Once you take Kriya you are required to do them twice a day and increase the amount from 12 to 120 or more within a certain amount of time--but not without approval. This is the bases of their entire teachings and without doing this as you are instructed you will not realize your God status, and nothing in your life will improve. But there's more. You have to do Kriya on top of two other techniques twice a day (oh, and yoga energizing exercises). Good luck if you have a family, which we all did--it means you abandon them for these techniques. If you don't do them in this order, you fail, and it's your fault if you don't have a good relationship with God.

Next, the ushers bring you up by rows, single file and you approach the monk with a gaining devotion while chanting something like, Om guru. What we are about to do is a Hindu practice, an offering of worship to a god or goddess. Most of the Hindu practices they say are "scientific" but they are really old Vedic teachings. Then again, sometimes they speak in depth about the teachings being revealed to Guru through God Realization. I think he just read the Vedas.

Once you reach the front of the row you stand before the monk (who projects his authority), and are given a blessing--a pressing of the monks finger against your third-eye (between the eyebrows) and he whispers, "Master be with you," or something like that. the monk gives you a palm full of rose petals that you will dry out and keep in a special box on your altar at home. Next you drop the money(whatever you want to give) in a basket, stand or kneel before the guru, and lay your flower there before him along with your fruit offering and pray. You pray to the Guru. Most people prostrate before the picture. I'd seen people laying flat for EVER before some monk moved them along. Then you go back to your seat and wait for everyone else while you continue to chant. At some point you are giving an Indian drink. Everyone must drink it at the same time, similar to a Christian communion. It is called "lassi" and made of yogurt and almonds. At the end of the ceremony they shower you with rose petals and sing, "Roses to the left, roses to the right roses front and behind."

This ceremony can be repeated anytime a Kriya is offered as long as you can prove you are a Kriyaban (someone who has taken Kriya and can produce a card issued by the Mother Center). It takes about 2 hours to get through this service, sometimes longer.

We took Kriya Initiation about once a year. They make you believe that if you tell anyone about these secret ceremonies or how to do Kriya Yoga, you're doomed, though they don't clarify the way in which you're doomed leaving your imagination to go wild. The pageantry of the ceremony leaves lasting impressions.

They keep secret files on you and keep a picture of you in those files. This creates fear. Once when I asked a senior monk what they did with the pictures, he derisively said (to the entire congregation)," "What do you THINK we do? What a stupid question!" Provoking nervous laughter.

This, I can tell you, is *not* what goes on in your normal neighborhood church.

They redefine common terms or introduce special vocabulary making it difficult for members to make sense of the world outside of even their own inner aspirations.

Special: The guru picked me. It was cool to be special, to know secret teachings, and be part of something exclusive. Like a private country club only with special dispensation. It is my conclusion that people how follow gurus do not have much self-esteem. There are members who never take Kriya Yoga because they do not want to make the commitment or take an oath. I didn't stop to think about the ramifications. Hey, I was 19!

Fear: I was told that as long as I was breathing the free air of earth, I was under obligation to render grateful service. Nothing mattered except the steady daily spiritual advancement. Yoga, through divinity is found within, and is the highest road. If I left the guru, I would leave God. I couldn't go backwards after having been on the high-road of yoga. This is the hardest thing to stop believing.

Failure: If the teachings are not working, it's your fault. You were absolutely forbidden to question the teachings. They did not fail. Only you failed.

Do not blame the ocean (teachings), only the diver searching for the pearl. Your greatest enemy is yourself. All the answers about God can be found in your daily meditation and Kriya Yoga. If you want to know your divinity, you have to work to find it within yourself. There is no failure in the teachings or the guru, only you. It's your fault.

What other devotees say if you deny these teachings perpetuating fear. This is something I received in my inbox and also they posted this on another website that questioned the SRF teachings: "You are very ignorant of who he is and was. Second: You are only digging deeper karmic holes for yourselves. Third:Your evil actions are known by God and you will someday be truly sorry for them. Fourth: If you had any wisdom at all you would refrain now and pray for forgiveness. P.Y. " God will not be mocked ! "

The New Testament indicates the presence of cosmic opposition to God through reference primarily to forces, people, or a person who seek to deceive those who already know God's Messiah. The cosmic struggle with evil is now chiefly localized in the church. So the spirit of antichrist ( 1 Jo 4:3 ), the false Christs (Mark 13:22 ) and antichrists ( 1 Jo 2:18 ), the antichrist ( 1 John 2:18 1 John 2:22 ; 4:3 ; 2 John 1:7 ), the man of lawlessness ( 2 Th 2:3 ), and the "desolating sacrilege" ( the 1:1 Mark 13:14 the ; masculine participle suggesting a person such as the antichrist ) all concentrate their activity on the elect or the community of faith. These figure(s) lie and deny Christ ( 1 John 2:22 ; 2 John 7 cf. 1 John 4:3 ), lead astray ( Mark 13:22 ), oppose and even declare himself as God in the temple ( 2 Thess 2:4, ; cf. Mark 13:14 ). ***

***Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Antichrist

Lesson Number One: No Drugs in SMURF

Information was slow, but we had pictures and read articles of the Beatles experimenting with drugs and meditation. Suddenly we couldn’t do anything without drugs to “heightening our experiences,” including religion.

The draw to the guru was his promise of “spiritual experiences,” and we were all interested in mind bending experiences, such as those that LSD produced. LSD was a chemical, but meditation was a natural high.

The brain releases dopamine, and the medulla, which is the seat of yoga, is where this natural chemical is distributed. Meditation releases dopamine, and dopamine is associated with the pleasure systems of the brain.

Meditation is the single most important requirement of being involved in eastern religions.

I know for a fact that many of the teenagers who showed up at the temple in Fullerton, California, between 1968-1974 were stoned and attending for the hippy cultural phenomenon and knew nothing about the pantheistic teachings they were embarking. This was about "experiencing something" not a ritualistic path to God. That came later. I know this because I was one of them, and I can name many others (if I had to) that didn't know any more about this church other than they had a guru and guru's led people into cosmic experiences. Period.

I also know that teenagers were running away from their Midwestern farms and showing up at the anchor church in Hollywood, California, without a penny, and expecting to start their lives on the monastic path.

The monastics didn’t know what to do with the drug problem because they did not advocate drug or alcohol abuse of any kind. They were not in cahoots with the Beatles to have their linage of gurus put on the record album, if anything they sought legal rights to have them removed. The backfire boon was a spike in interest with young people, for which *** was unprepared to handle.

You have to understand that *** has always been a Hindu monastic organization. This means that the monks and nuns take vows to live a sequestered life, including celibacy. They have little experience in worldly affairs once they enter the monastery. They are isolated from the world at-large, and highly protected by senior monastics about what they wear, eat, read, watch on TV or general interaction with householders (people who were not monastics). Thus, young people showing up for a higher consciousness experience were gently coached out of using drugs and dressing like hippies and slowly convinced to live monastic mirrored lives according to a strict set of rules and regulations.

The church was very conservative at that time, even with strict dress codes. For years jeans weren't allowed in the church, and even as late as the mid 90's most people dressed for church. I don't recall members ever coming in less that dress clothes. Ushers wore suits and women wore blue skirts and white blouses. As far as I know they still have this uniform for lay members. This church was as far as hippies as one can be, other than they had a guru.

In the late 1960's some of our parents were concerned that *** was advocating drugs because their children who were taking drugs were going to this temple. My husband’s parents recruited other parents to investigate the charges, and came away that the church did not advocate drug use of any kind and it would not be tolerated.

In the beginning of our discipleship we didn’t stop using social drugs, and smoked pot on the way to church service and the way home. The church just became an extension of our hippy culture.

SRF did not approve of this behavior in any way shape or form. Let me be clear about that--they did not and DO not advocate any drug or alcohol use. It was in the minds of the young people that eastern religions were part of the psychedelic scene.

My friends that were attending were also using some form of mind altering drugs or drinking alcohol. Separating a cultural phenomena, like the 1960's, from the factual disciplinarian teachings would take years to level out amongst many that I knew.

Some didn’t get out alive and died of their addictions, anyways.

The Guru Criteria

It’s common psychotherapy babble today to talk about our rotten childhoods and how many of us were ruined by them. Our childhoods can also be influenced by the religion of our parents. There are many Christians who suffered under toxic family religion passed down generationally.

During the 1960's young people rejected the religions of their parents in search of a religion that would give them the freedoms that they wanted to experience. The Jesus Revolution was one such rebellion. Rather than shuffling into a drafty cold church and forced to sit on hard benches and listen to someone talk about sin, the young people took Jesus outside, into the parks, to celebrate in a joyous manner, focusing on his message of love rather than damnation! They were against the established religion, the blandness and hypocrisy, and rather drew on the counterculture to create a movement. Then there was another shift...

When music became the signature of the boomers, the Beatles' music (in particular) opened up undreamed of spiritual possibilities. We wanted to emulate our rock heroes, and that’s when many of us experimented with drugs. We also wanted their kind of spiritual experiences, and at that time the Beatles were studying with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. More than that, we wanted a religion different from our parents, and something they wouldn't understand. This would set us apart in a generation that defined ourselves as "not trusting anyone over 30."

“All Things Must Pass,” started my inquiry into eastern religion. The *** line of gurus showed up on the now famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Many of us were scrambling to read the founding guru's book, The Autobiography of a Yogi.

That is how we (and some friends) ended up at Self Realization Fellowship–by wanting to be part of a counter-culture movement that had already passed most major city players. Guru’s were not aplenty in conservative Orange County at that time. The Dutch cows had just left.

In 1967 Self Realization Fellowship bought a church building in Fullerton, California. In a small community, word got out amongst the younger crowd that the gurus on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album had set up shop nearby, and this was the only criteria for us to attend. This seems a very irresponsible way to chose one’s religion, but many things are done in youth that we come to regret.

Now, in today’s world, new-age, eastern alternative religion is everywhere and it’s no longer counter-culture the way it was then. Self Realization Fellowship isn’t the same either. Over 30 years I witnessed many changes to accommodate the modern world-view.

But this isn’t about the church per say, as there are toxic Christian religions, as well. My goal has always been to educate about eastern religions, specifically those that have a guru-figurehead, someone (or people in a group) whom we allow to control us, usually subliminally.

Because I got involved at 18, I was young and impressionable enough to have lasting effects of the relationship. I took a vow at 19 that I would accept the guru as my own, and I renewed this vow many times over the years in secret ceremonies.

There is no greater sin than the one I committed. I denounced Jesus Christ for an Indian guru and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I always loved Jesus, and believed through the teachings of the guru, that what I was doing was in harmony with Jesus, that East could meet West in a harmonious way.

"Those with toxic faith use it to avoid reality and responsibity. It often results in perfectionism; people are driven to perform and work in an attempt to earn their way to heaven or at least to gain favor with God. Like other addictions, it cause great damage, but the addicted continue to purse it." Toxic Faith, Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton

The Labor of Prayer - Meditation Exposed

The religions of the world teach many ways to pray, but there is only one true way. The Bible tells us how to pray, but if we listen to men (guru’s, teachers, theologians or pastors gone astray) on how to pray, we’ll be tangled in disciplines without having a personal experience with God. My prayer life prior to accepting Christ was a burden, so difficult that most nights I went to bed without even attempting it!

I’m going to explain it to you in some detail here so you can remain vigilant in your churches. Someone might explain it as a way to deepen your knowledge of God, and use phrases like Christian meditation or Christian Yoga. Always refer to the Bible about prayer, never the ways of man, no matter how educated or well connected that man may be.

This looks peaceful, and it should be, but... 

In my guru laden church, praying was a series of works. Prior to prayer we were to practice a series of Yoga “energizing” exercises. They were relatively easy to do, but took between 20 – and 30 minutes. After this, you sat down to mediate. Usually this included chanting for another 20 minutes. Next you practiced 3 different series of “yoga” techniques.

The first was a breathing exercise that used a repetitive phrase called Hong-Sau. You were to mentally say the first word as you breathed in, and second word as you breathed out, all the while paying close attention to your breathing. After about a ½ hour of this, you would switch to another technique, called The Om Technique. This one involved closing your ears and eyes with your fingers. To make this easier they sold a special bar you used to hold your elbows. You were to listen for the OM vibration and look for the “third eye.” They taught us this was the “comforter” taught in the Bible, or their idea of the Holy Spirit.

(This is an artists rendition as the picture I used was removed by Blogger...gee, I wonder who complained about it? Could it be a church that wants to hide it's techniques from the public eyes?)

An OM BAR is not a place to have a drink!

The last technique was their highest and took a year of lessons and a special secret initiation. It was called Kriya Yoga (you can Google this for more information), and this was a technique where you visualized energy in your spine while using a breathing method to “draw” it around the spine, starting from the base (coccyx) to the base of your brain (medulla oblongata). Each revolution was one Kriya and the amount of them depended upon how far along you were. They start you at 12 and increase you by 12, but not without permission from a monk certified to increase them. He would watch and listen to see how well you were practicing Kriya before allowing you to do more.  After the initiation they throw rose petals on you and sing, "Roses to the left, roses to the right, roses, left and behind...om, om, om..."

After doing 24 to 120 Kriya's, each taking about one minute to perform, you would then “sit in the silence." All of this took about two hours, but I would manage to cram this into one hour. You were instructed to do this at least twice a day, in the morning and at night.

These are Kriya beads count each Kriya

If you think it’s hard to find 20 minutes to pray to God, imagine having to go through those hoops to talk to him, and then not be able to really ask him for anything, just “feel his presence.” What does Jesus say about such prayers?

"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again." Matthew 6:7 (NLT)

After I denounced my guru, it took me years to even attempt to pray, and I had no idea what kind of “religion” I should try. I started walking every morning and praying: “Dear God, restore my faith in you and define that faith and belief.”

If you or anyone you know practices techniques of prayer, I hope this message will release you from that bondage.

I want to leave you with a warning. Eastern and New Age philosophies and techniques are present in American Christen churches. We must be vigilant about “blending philosophies” into Christianity. Tolerance for other religions has nothing to do with standing firm in Biblical Truth.

The Voyage Out

“The relief in understanding this is a broken world, that we have a sin nature, and God is in charge was absolutely liberating!”

The guru-laden church I once belonged is in operation today with thousands of active members worldwide. Their members will not leave this organization, or their guru. What I share here are my own experiences. There may be other members who disagree with my own experience. The church may disagree with my experiences.

My website can't possibly change their minds. They are 100% convinced about their guru's teachings. However, it might give those who've not given the oath yet to follow the guru into eternity, to "at the least" do some research into what they claim, especially the part about their teachings being in harmony with Christ.

If you want another detailed description of how these teachings can't be reconciled with Christianity, visit: Christian Research Institute. You can also read my article: Eastern religion and Christianity can't be reconciled.

What this article doesn't explain is how these meditative techniques can brainwash you in ways you can't imagine. Repetitive praying, over and over in our thoughts, in a certain way, ultimately can make groves in our thought processes that are hard to undue. Let's not forget the complete devotion to a guru whom each member has a "Divine Romance."

What these teachings instilled in me was I had to be a people-pleaser and be nice. It was a cover-up for a very toxic environment. This being "nice" is used to manipulate people, and avoid any real emotional contact and intimacy.

Those of weaker mind might not be able to completely get out, at least not mentally and emotionally. What I've seen over the years is if members left the guru they immediately got into some other form of dharmic religion, like Buddhism.

You might notice that my earlier posts don't call into question the church I was involved in, and that's because I've found over the years posting anything about SRF on the Internet is sure to cause the poster a variety of problems. You can read my article Mask Behind Perfection where I candidly explain some of my previous experiences.

I certainly don't want issues with Blogger, either, and no doubt they're pounding on the "report this blog" tab, as I have seen a spike from Mountain View. Which is just ridicoulous, because if we're firm in our faith, what can anyone say?

Also, I can't and won't defame anyone in the church. I'm sorry they are still there, since I inducted many of them, but I don't hold any ill feelings. I quite loved many of them, though since I left, I've not heard from anyone of them. That's what cults do. They disown you. You are in or you are out. Period.

My decision to share information about my experience with methaphysical teachings wasn't taken lightly. I've thought about it for a long, long time. Basically, it's my personal experiences, and being a writer, it's difficult to hop-skip-and jump around exactally how I've come to be so opinionated about guru-led churches that claim we can be both a Christian and a Hindu at the same time, which ultimately only leads to confusion and little peace.

The Big Guru Breakup

Here is a never before shown picture of me at my guru church. This was taken in Hollywood, California in 1973 at the temple of my guru.

Over the next few weeks (in between other interests) I'm going to share some of my personal experiences of life on the inside of an dharmic religion that makes claims to be a church of all religions, thereby including Jesus in their teachings, and what I know of why they added him, and how they successfully re-wrote his teachings and published parts of the New Testament.

Pantheistic  (Eastern) religion and Christianity can't be reconciled. I've written about this exclusively on this blog but it bears repeating. I will share some of why I broke up with my guru after a 30 year relationship, and how I returned to Jesus Christ.

I try (now more than ever) to remember that all of my experiences are the sum total of who I am, and that I must love all parts of my life to love the whole me. Thus, I embrace the memories of it "all" but see now how I was out of step with God in this church. We each only have our own experiences. I can only write about mine. But, I can also say I witnessed a swath of suffering in the lives of other devoted devotees striving for perfection under the iron hand of discipline.

What I've learned as a Christian is there is no perfection in this world. Stay tuned.

Cult? Who, me? No way!

A cult is any group that holds you mentally and spiritually hostage and lies to you about truth. That truth doesn't just mean spiritual Truths. It can be anything, from diet, to marriage to how you raise your children.



The first sign you’re in a cult is when you’re told (quite often) you’re not part of a cult, and they usually have a darn good argument to prove their point. Cults work hard to debunk the theory that they aren't a cult or a sect. Since there are so many kinds of cults out there, I'm not going to start a list. There are many websites out there with suspected cult lists. The religion I belonged to for many years fell beneath that radar. You can dig deeper into this blog for more about that experience. A cult does not have to be media mainstream consciousness to be a cult.

Ironically, even after you leave a cult, you might continue to deny you were ever in a cult. Admitting the "cult" part is really, really hard to accept. Especially if you’ve defended your cult for years, lost friends, family members over it, created strife for your children who were marginalized for being “different, or even satanic for your beliefs,” and the list goes on. It’s hard to reconcile one had a serious relationship with a cult and their cannons. That’s scary stuff. Of course, it's scary, or it wouldn't be a cult.

Frankly I’m surprised there aren’t more suicides by people who leave cults. When you leave you leave community. You leave the fabric of your life. It’s an isolating experience because you have no where to go, no one to talk to, no one who'll understand the gravity of your situation. The last thing many ex-cult members can accept is another teaching, church or philosophy. Everyone becomes suspect. They can roam around for years in a state of denial. Some people might become atheists because they just don’t want to take a chance that they’ll get it wrong again.

You have to understand that part of being in a cult is watching out for the kooks in Christianity who come around with their Bibles. You also know, and sometimes memorize all the gruesome suffering that’s come in the name of Jesus Christ. Christians call it apologetics, cults call it TRUTH, and they are masters of it because it's part of the brainwashing.

Their ego is always gigantic, but they deny the ego in their teachings. They think they're God, and well, what can you do with that?

The minute someone utters the word "cult" people in them tend to shut down, turn off, walk out and disassociate with the word. They can't hear CULT. Part of the brainwashing is to block that word from their minds. You might stop reading right HERE. That’s because the word CULT immediately brings to mind Charlie Manson and Jones Town, and, well, you’re certainly are not part of something so evil. That’s front page news evil. That kind of evil isn’t so insidious. It takes out a few people and it’s over.

Savvy cults aren’t run by psychotics; they’re run by ordinary folks. Nice folks. Good looking people with pleasant homes and nice cars. They live next door. They take care of your cat when you’re on vacation and bring you casseroles when you’re sick. They’re your friend, your brother, your mother. They could be just about anyone, and that’s really daunting.

Being a writer, I've never had a problem telling my stories, but this wasn't something I could so easily write about. I had to face some truths that were painful. One doesn’t just walk away from a belief system without some serious scars. When you’re taught something, study, mediate, focus on something for years, it takes root. You might cut the weeds by no longer attending, but the roots are still down in the dirt and it doesn’t take much water to sprout doubts.

Cult members are brainwashed into thinking they're special and chosen. That's a powerful, euphoric emotion. The road to Damascus for cult members isn't usually a revelation through Jesus Christ.

(Reprint from original TD 2007)

Nothing but Feelings

While reading a New York Times Bestselling book, I felt compelled to write a review that's going to call into question the author's beliefs, but she's freely calling into question the beliefs of Christians. My husband asked me if I felt the writer was telling her own story, or if she was pushing a belief system on the readers. She's pushing a belief system on her readers, I told him, making statements of fact, such as meditation is the only way. Then I said, "I think that Christians, as a whole, are too passive. Few of us are defending Christ in the manner that say, Paul, defended Him, through great suffering, opposition and death. Would we die for the name and Truth of Jesus Christ?

Are we a bunch of Peter's crouching behind the water fountain in the courtyard, lest someone finds out we're Jesus followers and not cool? By not speaking up when we see or hear Jesus persecuted, isn't that the same as denying Christ? Is it a sin to be passive about how people speak, write or portray the Son of man?

Without a doubt there's a movement to eradicate Christianity. The American Atheists are clearly pushing an agenda in Washington. The media, even public television, is out to debunk Christian beliefs. PBS just presented a program that brings into question whether Moses ever existed. The celebrity anti-Christian circus would require another article, but even the least of us who follow celebrity gossip know about Kabbalah and Scientology.

Then, of course, I began to wonder just how well I, not only shield my eyes from lies, but really stand up and defend Jesus?

While eternal life is a free gift given on the basis of God's grace (Ephesians 2:8,9), each of us will still be judged by Christ. This judgment will reward us for how we have lived. God's gracious gift of salvation does not free us from the requirement for faithful obedience. ¹

When I meet God, what if he asks, "Did you defend my Son?" And when I say, "Why, yes," and he asks, "We'll, what about the time when your friends used His name in vain and you said nothing?" I'll of course look dumbfounded, shuffle my feet around and make some lame excuse such as that using the Lord's name in vain became part of the American lexicon. "But what about that time you watched a TV show that made fun of my Son, and that time you enjoyed a movie that ridiculed him? What happened there?" I'll probably say something like, "What could I do even if I didn't like it?" Here God will say something like, "Why didn't you turn it off, walk out, warn others about the content? Why didn't you post the Truth on that blog you kept? I happened to be one of your readers."

By now you want to know what book I'm talking about that's led to this conversation with God.

First things first. This author is an amazing writer. There's nothing negative to say about her writing, in fact, I envy her ease of it and how she turns a phrase into a living, breathing thing. Her writing was so good that, even though it prompted this article, I kept reading. Perhaps more than anything that's why I'm here, now, not to defame her but to tell others that one must be prudent with the ideas and feelings of others when it comes to our spiritual life. Always look for the truth in the Word.

The name of the book is, Eat Pray Love, and her name is Elizabeth Gilbert.

She claims to have no personal issues with the many names of God, but prefers to use the name "God," rather, than, say for example, Shiva. She also believes God could be a woman, but prefers to think of him as a man. Culturally she claims to be a Christian, but not theologically. I stopped and re-read this again, scratching my head, wondering where the editor was because clearly there's no such animal as a cultural Christian. One either believes in Jesus or not. The writer goes on to say that Jesus is just a great teacher, and to quote her directly: "I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, though I can't swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God."

How can anyone believe anything at all about Jesus if they don't believe what he said about himself? How can she "not swallow" what Jesus claimed himself to be? What did Jesus claim?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18

For those who claim the Gospels were not composed by Jesus, it's important to note that they were written by four eye-witness accounts of the life of Jesus and all four recount similar, if not exact experiences, including the resurrection. These four disciples wrote what they remembered, not what they extrapolated off the Internet, out of books, or heard from a guru. In actuality there were hundreds if not thousands of people who saw Jesus, both before and after he was resurrected.

I came across something else in the Bible about the testimonies of Jesus. He makes a case for himself, perhaps knowing there would be people in this world who reserved the right not to believe in him, which of course is free will, the very gift God gave humans over all other creatures on this planet.

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.

You have sent John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony, but I mention it that you maybe be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me, to have life.

I do not accept praise from men, but I know you, I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" John 5:31-47 NIV

Sadly, many Christians don't know exactly what Jesus said and they can get sucked into false teachings that promise they're in harmony with Christianity, and without much dissension.

"...most of the Christians I know accept my feelings on this with grace and open mindedness..."

She doesn't know any Christians. Christian's profess belief in Jesus as Christ and follow the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. There is no middle ground with Jesus Christ. One only has to pick up a Bible and read the RED.

Open mindedness means having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments. She doesn't present new ideas or arguments. To this writer, any explanation other than none would have helped me have an open mind to her feelings pertaining to Jesus.

After a few more chapters about her painful divorce (which I feel no empathy as she left an otherwise decent man), she flies the reader to Italy. Now, the story holds me tightly and is so provocatively written that after beautiful, breathless months spent in Europe we're abruptly dumped in India, and pummeled on Hindu philosophy, a detailed, rehashed monologue about yoga, ashram life, meditation techniques and how to find the right guru, peppered with cheeky comments about God being a turnip. Nothing unique in selling Hinduism, different, untold, or captivating. Her guru hammer had me ready to sob. She'd taken us out of glorious Italy on an amazing journey and dropped us on our heads in a shabby chic ashram.

Inside the ashram she meets more privileged spiritual seeking cohorts (whom she points out are all successful (which isn't true or they wouldn't be there). One even has a PhD, mind you! Why some people think education justifies bad choices, I'll never know. So, all these inmates of hers had the free choice to put their lives (and those of their husbands, wives, children, employers, friends, cats and dogs) on hold to travel half way around the world to suffer (but not too much) for their guru, completely unconcerned while zoning out in meditation, about the millions of real Hindus who haven't enough clean water to drink. The devoted ones eat delicious meals, have their personal needs met, with just a few inconveniences (for effect), yet on the other side of the wall people are living in abject poverty.

Christians would have been working outside, in the trenches, to help those in need, not spending their days in service to those within the ashram. Therein is a pivotal difference between Christ and a guru. Christ wants us to roll up our sleeves and administer to the poor and needy, but guru's want you serve them first, then their devotees (who support the guru's pampered lifestyle), while ignoring the poverty and suffering all around them.

I wanted rip the book in two and keep the part I was adoring! But no. Here I am reading what I already know about Hinduism (or any variant of it) and wanting to find this writer's phone number and call her and scream, "How could you have ruined such a perfectly fabulous book?"

I understand that she had to write about her experience in the ashram since she went there, but she presents her case for yoga with an air of professional qualifications, discounting Christ, to proclaim her own feelings, with certainty that her--struggling in a dark fake cave and sitting rigid for hours of meditation is the only way to know God. This chapter tries to sell a package that all Hindu guru's have sold since Swami Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga to the West in the late 1800's.

Her single experience wasn't based on years and years of this kind of spiritual pursuit but a few months, and yes, the ashram makes for an interesting adventure because of her talent as a writer, but she's not walked this razor's edge long enough to weigh in with such authority that the actual teachings are superior to Christ's.

Now, as I continue reading, weary from frustration, she begins what I call the Hindu witnessing and proof they all proclaim, in one manner or another, yet they deny witnessing.

* You're chosen

* The guru was unique, chosen by his master, enlightened

* You received an initiation.

* The guru seldom visited the austere, desolate ashrams in India that were run mostly by volunteers, rather her guru lived most of the time in America. This void is explained. The devotees do not need the guru in their presence to benefit from them. They can be alive or dead, here or thousands of miles away. It's all the same.

* Ashram life was difficult. There are long hours of physical work and tedious hours of meditation. Devotees are exhausted and under fed.

* To come to the ashram the guru wants the devotee to be in good physical and mental health and have financial assets. This is stance is viewed as practical, giving credence to the guru.
You're not to be a drain on anyone.

* If your family objects to you coming to the ashram, you should not to come. Your family is not to be a drain on anyone. You're to serve the guru and his/her followers without any resistance.

* Any abuse you receive (hard labor, lack of food or sleep and hours of still meditation) will help you on the path.

* The guru came from a "line" of guru's.

* The guru gives a mantra, and special lessons.

She presented many other commonalities of yogic life seen in similar sects, but there are too many to list. What's important to note is her "feelings" were her guide to truth. Because she "felt" something in her meditations, this was proof enough to her that she was communicating with God.

Why then were her original feelings about her husband not enough to sustain her marriage? Feelings are never accurate, especially when God is involved.

Group experiences seemed to hold some value to her as well. She tells a story about a rowdy crowd of people waiting to see their guru and calmed into bliss when he appeared on stage, therefore the yogi is authentic by his ability to transcend people who came looking for spiritual joy.

A crowed can be convinced to drink cyanide.

Yogi's are seeking an experience. They gather for that experience. They come together with silly "bliss bunny" smiles and meditate together. Whether in a group or alone, they are not meditating to just sit there. They're straining for something God-like, whether it's a breathless state or to gaze into the third eye (often described as a blue light with a white star), or some form of out-of-body feeling. They may very well hallucinate by a self imposed hypnotic states, fueled by opiate type endorphins.

She writes, "In mystical India, as in many shamanistic traditions, kundalini shaki (life force) is considered a dangerous force to play around with if you are unsupervised; the inexperienced Yogi could quite literally blow his mind with it."

I knew such an inexperienced man and after doing a technique to control Kundalini, he went behind a gas station and stabbed himself to death. Read that again. I did not mean to say that he cut his wrists. He, quite literally stabbed himself to death. If this is any indication of what she means by blowing ones mind, then on this note she is indeed accurate.

I studied, mediated and followed a very famous Indian guru during most of my life. I was a profoundly excellent devotee. Though I didn't live in an ashram, I'd stayed in one, and visited many in America. One need not travel to India to have this deprived experience. I knew hundreds of yogis for up to 30 years, but not one of them had ever attained much. I don't mean money, though most of them had little financial success, but happiness. There were drugs, alcohol, affairs, divorces, physical abuses, and because yogi's do not believe in sin and have no way to be absolved the guilt. They seemed a bunch of shame driven antisocial beings. I'd never seen anyone enter into the highest state, Samadhi, and yet we heard many times of our gurus experience. None of these struggling yogi's were better off, if anything, all of them suffered mental and emotional problems. Guru's offer much to the unpopular, the antisocial and the broken people who never quite fit into anything. Here they become special, and needed, chosen, ripe for picking. If they came from the Christian faith they generally grew up with a distorted view of Christianity perpetrated by their parents.

Everything this author shares about her yoga experience I've heard before, accept this one thing: "You come to your Guru, then, not only to receive lessons, as from any teacher, but to actually receive the Guru's state of grace. Such transfers of grace can occur in even the most fleeting of encounters with a great being."

I experienced no Grace in eastern religion. Grace is the divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor.

When I left my guru, I did so for reasons that had nothing to do with his deceptions--those I learned about them many years later (his followers continue to disbelieve what's been uncovered). I had no grudge to bear against the guru, I loved him dearly. I just needed space from the people he attracted, including the monks and nuns who ran the organization like a gulag. I was completely unaware that I'd been slowly brainwashed into believing the Hindu philosophy, and had abandoned so many years ago the truths in the Bible.

I came back to Christ in a simple way. I began reading the Bible. Truth was revealed. I remember setting the Bible on my lap, glancing up at my husband and saying, "They (our old guru church) have it all wrong."

The first thing the Lord showed me was that the Christian life is a fight against evil forces from without and temptation from within. Christ paid for our sins. God wants us to live by faith, not by magic, or by trying to manipulate God. Satan tried to temp Jesus into sinning by quoting scripture. Don't be fooled. One can't believe Jesus was a good teacher if one doesn't believe what he taught.

Jesus said, "If a kingdom cannot stand against itself, that kingdom cannot stand." Mark 3:24

"It is also written: Do not put your God to the test." Matthew 4:7



₁ Life Application Study Bible, Zondervan

Bad Vibrations - More on Love

Much of what I've shared on this blog relates to the stark contrasts between my life in eastern religion and conversion into Christianity.

If I can't take 30 years of striving for perfection in a yogic life, and the pitfalls I encountered with eastern religious logic, and share this with others heading "east," and warn them, then those 30 years were a waste. But we know that's not true, right? Nothing is a waste if we glorify it in Christ. We are the sum-total of our experiences. Jesus told me not to "hate" any part of my life. That's how most of us live. Denying big chunks of self and trying to do something with the part we like. We run very fast from our sins, bury them as deeply as we can so they remain hidden, lest we have to face them again and again. Horror of horrors.

The Bible's message will set us free, even though some Christians struggle with believing God hates sinners, and is angry with them. The Bible plainly explains we're not perfect, we're not going to be perfect, so stop trying. Jesus loves every single hair on our heads. Jesus wants us to embrace our true selves.

Eastern religion does not teach that there is a savior who loves us and wants to redeem us. Instead their message is that only through yogic works can we be "free" of the ego and attain a state of enlightenment, or oneness with God.

As I've shared before, leaving my eastern religion was extremely difficult simply because I'd been such good devotee of the program. My unending quest to connect with God, to seek that eternal joy within, kept me attuned with Indian philosophy and the striving for perfection. That eternal joy I embraced wasn't eternal, I eventually learned those moments of peace were as long as the meditation.

I struggled for many years with a "holy" life or "holier-than-hell" life. Eastern religion is more attuned to isolation, meaning that though Hinduism is ancient, it does not have a blueprint for those living in a modern world.

Now, where does love fit in? Being a yogi requires intellectual study and meditation, not the cultivation of relationships, which is where you'll find love.

Because karma can't be forgiven, you work out your karma through yoga, but yoga is a means not an end. There are many disciplines in yoga. I followed Raja Yoga, a "royal yoga" that is, a highway to self realization and enlightenment. The royal highway means you have work to do; you have to transform and purify yourself until all karma is burned, releasing you from the chains of this world. The ordinary man could not conceive the absolute spirit, only a self-realized yogi.

,

Meditation was the place to seek wisdom, yoga postures is a way to attain the discipline of body, Bakti yoga is a way to attain devotion. Many practices but no official word from God. They often use the Bhagavad Gita as God's word, there's nothing in the document that can be verified as an actuality. It's a wonderful poem about man doing his duty, but it's not the word of God.

The Bible is roughly ignored in eastern religion. Because the church I belonged to referred to Biblical scripture on Sundays and limited it to an interpretation by their founder, no one considered reading the Bible on their own. Often we were told that it took a "master" to understand a "master," and therefore we would not understand the Bible without the guru's interpretation. I honestly didn't realize the Bible was God's word, or that it's alive. It's called a living Bible. There are over 37,000 promises to be found in the Bible, as well as history, prophecy, wisdom literature, letters and instructions.

Okay, so, again, where was the love in eastern religion? Did God love us when we went to that temple? How did we love God if we were bungee corded to the earth in a dreadful karmic cycle?

What I came to learn was God wasn't the image of man, rather we were told he was a vibration and was part of everything, including this computer screen. It was the vibration of God we loved and were to mold the vibration into an image we could understand and desire. To love God we were to cultivate the desire for God by coming up with a concept such as a guru or a statue of Krishna or a picture of a God, even the picture of Jesus. We were taught that ordinary love is selfish and rooted in desire, so we did not love in an ordinary way. We were told to talk to God in the language of our hearts, that "wanting to love God--was loving God." God would not deny anyone his love if we made a sincere effort. We were told there is no sin, and no Satan, that the world is made up of light and darkness. Good and bad. That the laws were universal and applied to everyone.

When did the holes get poked in my eastern religion faith?

The night my mother died. Sitting in a stairwell at Long Beach Memorial hospital, clutching my cellphone, having just hung up with an arrogant monk, I knew my guru was a god impostor. Sometimes life changes in a stairwell.

My eastern religion leaders told me my mother deserved to die a horrible cancer death, and that she really didn't mind dying in this way, that her soul understood. She had done something to someone, somewhere and she was paying her karmic dues. After she suffered and died, her soul would be whisked off to be reborn again in the body of her choosing. I would never see my mother again. While I sobbed on the phone, the monk told me to be happy for her. Her soul was going to be released. He felt he could do more by meditating in the Pasadena hills, where the ashram resided, than coming down to the hospital.

None of the devotees knew how to comfort me, for to show grief was to show ego earth-binding inclinations. They almost seemed afraid of me, as if I had seen what was in store for them.

No, I was to pick up and carry on in my quest to find God and let the dead bury the dead.

All those years, I'd believed dying to be part of the karmic wheel. Well, here was death. I can say I lived in shock for a good long time after mom passed. The one person I needed to accept me, died, and her last word to me was "shit." I was trying to make her more comfortable, telling her it was okay to pass, to let her pain go, and she jerked her hand from mine and said, "shit," and then she lapsed into her final coma.

I found a bathroom and vomited. I heard someone tell my father of my state and I heard him say in an angry voice, "she'll be fine." I was not fine. There was no way out. There was nothing I could do. It was absurd. 30 years of meditation was not going to save my mother nor give me an ounce of grace. I was on my own. The pain was so unbearable that I was chewing pain pills and Xanax.

It was my inability to reconcile mom's death--or find peace about it, that eventually, though not entirely at once, turned me toward Christ. Because I had been so completely brain washed about the nature of God, when I first began reading the Bible I couldn't grasp the message. In talk therapy I learned I'd formed a religious addiction. Through meditation I sought escape, and so did everyone else I knew that was striving for this oneness, perfection with God. Within their lives, broken marriages, alcohol, drugs, affairs, deceptions, continued but while in they meditated they could numb out, and all these other problems would go away--but they don't go away. They cling to you like tar and feathers.

We would escape into this unreal mythical world where a guru, his monks and nuns, along with rules and regulations put a divide between us and God. There was so much perfectionism running amok that it became alarmingly difficult to do anything within this church without someone pointing out that it wasn't good enough. Silly things like using a ruler to measure the exact location a plastic spoon and fork should be set on a table. The devotees used this perfection system to humiliate and wound "lesser" devotees and to pump their egos. These helpers would be reduce to tears and told they were ego bound, and that "master used to upbraid his devotees," and they were only doing what the master would do. Or, "they were doing (fill in the blanks of abuse) because they loved the master, and we should be more understanding if we loved him.

My eastern religion prescribed to toxic shame in the name of God. They severed my soul. They brought me feelings of distrust, worthlessness, inferiority. Because I came from a shameless home, where abandonment, ridicule, abuse, neglect and perfectionism existed, eastern religion became my new family. Many devotees were from similar abusive families and they passed it on to others through control, perfectionism, contempt, criticism, blame, envy, judgment, power and rage.

When I began to seriously question the flaws of the teachings, I was excommunicated. They excommunicated me by abandonment. I was so wounded I wasn't aware I was being excommunicated. They didn't need me. Not really, there was another putz who'd just joined. Why keep the trouble makers? Hadn't they been really good at getting rid of them? What about those mysteriously missing monks who quit? Where'd they go? Where do people go when they are excommunicated? Don't think we didn't ask! We lost many monks to mystery. The really good ones never stayed.

Spiritually, I was a zombie. I could not pray, nor meditate. I drifted. I tried to read the Bible.

Everything I'd studied was now in direct conflict with the God of the Bible. The Bible was telling me I didn't have to do anything but accept Jesus Christ, that Jesus loved me. He loved me so much that he died for me. I didn't understand this kind of love. I didn't believe it. The Bible is just something made up, I told myself because that's what my church told me. They said Jesus orchestrated his Crucifixion, like a play, that he cast his own characters, that it was just done as an example of how much one could be devoted to God. We could all be Christ-like, or attain Christ consciousness. Jesus Christ had gone to India and had learned Kriya Yoga and that's what he'd taught his disciples, but the secret teachings were written out of the Bible, don't you know? And now Jesus was working with an Indian Avatar named Babaji, and together they were running the World. They were the CEO's. I believed this remake, and so does thousands of world wide devotees, even still, if not more.

The Bible says love compensates for our sin. Eastern religion says you have to work off karma to know God. There's no hall passes. The guru can not release of the work you must do; he's more of an adviser.

While I was in spiritual recovery, I came across this poem, and it seemed to be Jesus speaking to me.

Welcome to the world, I've been waiting for you.
I'm so glad you're here.
I've prepared a special place for you to live.
I like you just the way you are.
I will not leave you no matter what.
Your needs are okay with me.
I'll give you all the time you need to get your needs met.
I'm so glad you're a girl.
I want to take care of you, and I'm prepared to do that.
I like feeding you, bathing you, changing you, and spending time with you.
In all the world, there has never been another like you.
God smiled when you were born.

(John Bradshaw, Home Coming, Bantam Books)

When I began to do inner child work, I began to develop a new relationship with God. It didn't come quick, and God dropped a few wake-up calls into my life to move things along. Jesus' warnings about false teachers hit me hardest. The closer I examined the Bible the more I realized that though some eastern religion has nice-sounding messages, they do not agree with God's message in the Bible. I learned God's love is truly complete. How great is the love of the father! Never had I read so much about love, or how it could change my life. In just a few years as a believer my life is completely changed.

Now I know I will see my mother again. She believed in Jesus Christ. She is already glorified in heaven.

The Lord our God is a merciful God. 2 Sm 24:14

Modern Day Guru’s Part III - Buyer Beware

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 13-14 Message

For the sake of this article, I am using the term guru, in its more modern term. Meaning anyone who supposedly has knowledge of religious subjects.

God is very clear who the Boss is, and everyone knows He’s the boss, and if we’re not following Jesus Christ, we’re rebelling. Everyone hates to hear that, and people get up on their laurels wanting to “do their own thing.” Okay, I get that--I’m simply trying to advise you that gurus make money on their followers, and they don’t really care about anyone but themselves. I know this because I followed one. I got into dharmic religions through the counter-culture of the 60's, the "do your own thing" era. Plus, I wasn't raised a Christian, and the ones I knew were not redeeming so, though I was saved by the Jesus Movement, I bailed out too soon. I discovered early in my Christian walk hypocrisy in my small band of Christians, and quit without seeking truth from Christ. Plus Christianity sounded very conforming to me, and my generation didn't want to conform. The first time I registered to vote I did so as a Libertarian Party just to raise some eyebrows, and it did at the local polling place.

Most people don't want to be told what to do--or believe in, and the idea that we're free to choose what we want to be acceptable as our God, is an American right. I get that too. Yet, when we try on religions, we're apt to be greatly disappointed in our choice. The idea of a hell is so distasteful to most Americans (it was to me!) that they'd rather turn their spiritual life over to a famous syndicated talk show host by following her spiritual choice rather than crack a Bible and see what it has to say. The devil is laughing all the way to the bank. The idea of a devil isn't popular, either. Satan knows this and uses it to his advantage.

I swore an allegiance with an eastern guru without ever knowing about the truth in Christ.

Did I know that there was salvation in life through Christ before signing up with a Guru? Yes. I knew, I'd been told. I willingly left the side of Christ for a Guru. I walked away for something that seemed mystical; something that might show me more than what the Christians were showing me. Therein was my problem. I wanted the Christians to show me something...not Jesus. And that's what happens, we want a show.

My guru, who was dead since 1952, still had quite a show. For being dead, his organization had grown world-wide. There were temples, meditations, incense, Indian music, and all the eastern mysticism which is very beautiful. They owned beautiful gardens and properties overlooking the ocean. I can't deny even now how peaceful those places were, but they're not only for eastern religions. Christians can have gardens and beautiful retreats, and yet, most Christian churches lean toward a more austere environment with little or no Christian elements. Nature draws us in naturally, and many eastern religions are in touch with the beauty in nature and use that to attract members.

My church had famous movie stars, a president or two, a Beatle, all the trappings that seem to qualify them as God's representative. It was tied up in a nice package. It was appealing. But many things are appealing to our flesh that isn't good for us.

The guru I had made an investment with couldn't give me unconditional love because he wasn't God incarnate, though we were told he was, and many stories where shared either in his writings or amongst devotees, of his divine quality. There was a kind of love affair going on there... A divine love affair. Affairs don't last, and neither did this one. As long as I was young and idealistic, this religion worked for me, but life isn't young and idealistic forever.

I really thought that the history of the Bible and Jesus was too inconceivable to believe and written by the church to manipulate people. This is what we were told, if not from the pulpit, certainly within smaller groups. On the other hand we were told so many goofy stories, completely unprovable by science and history, that it’s embarrassing to admit I believed any of it, and yet we didn’t believe the Bible! And that’s how these gurus want things to run. They don’t want you poking your nose into the Bible, lest you find some truth there. The only Bible they want you to read or know about is their version.

Recently a talk show host began to support a new-age German philosopher. Her stamp of approval escalated him into mainstream media. He teaches non-ego and enlightenment states (which is impossible to attain) so what he’s really spewing is ancient philosophy and eastern teachings—claiming them modern, and using his hypnotic German accent as part of his persuasive presentation. After watching a few of his videos I was captivated by his sheer sense of bloated self-worth. He needs to kill his own ego.

Why am I picking on TV personalities? Well, I’m not. I’m just stating a fact and it's disturbing to me that people I love are starting to follow this fake. Why didn’t this A-lister talk show host support Jesus Christ whose given her the blessed life she now enjoys? Because she's come to believe she's God. Being taught we are God is the number one ticket for guru's.

I did the same thing! I was born again in 1971 and took up with a Hindu guru in 1973. The idea that I could control my own destiny was too seductive for me to turn and run. The devil has his ways.

The Bible warns us to be wary of those motivated by fame, power and money, or plain rebellion. Satan is a deceiver and extremely motivated to use these phony teachers to get what he wants, our soul. Don’t take the word of anyone over the Word of God.

Jesus warns us of the cost of following him and many people don’t want to pay the Cross.

All gurus teach a self-directed life, which means results are promised to one self--you're never to look outside of yourself for your happiness. These gurus put themselves on a throne and promise their followers the same throne. From my own experience, I'm telling you, this does not work. We can't be God, we can't control anything but our own choices.

A guru's premise is ALWAYS that you’re flawed and what they’re selling will make you feel better, look better or have a closer relationship with God. For some reason they have been allowed to talk to God and get it right, whereas the rest of us must take their word.

We are not flawed.
We were born into sin.
Only Jesus Christ can free us.

Gurus want you to believe you’re more than human or less than human. To be more than human is to make a mistake, and to be less of human is to believe you are the mistake. Their techniques shame us when they fail to work and keep us preoccupied with our flaws. The more mistakes we make as human, the more money they make when we strive to be less human. People idolize their gurus and make themselves bad.

Modern day gurus do not believe in the true Jesus Christ. To believe in Christ is to believe everyone has sinned; the penalty for our sin is death; Jesus Christ died for our sins; to be forgiven for our sin; we must believe and confess that Jesus is Lord. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ.

Modern day gurus will correct you if you quote scripture as truth. They believe they have the answer, not Jesus Christ, because they have a better way, a life full of strict details where there's no freedom in the doing, doing, doing...

Jesus says to beware of those whose words sound religious but who are motivated by money, fame, or power. You can tell who they are because in their teaching they minimize Christ and glorify themselves.

Further proof that Christ is the way and the truth and the life:

Word of Christ –Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Col 3:16 Message

Word of God - Jesus commented, “Even more blessed are those who hear God’s Word and guard it with their lives!” Luke 11:28 Message

Word of Life – “so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.” Phil 2:16 Message

Word of Truth - “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.” – Tim 2:15 Message

Abides forever – “Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.” Mark 13:31 Message

Endures forever – “God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.” 1 Peter 1:25

Soul Saving – “It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!” Romans 1:16 Message



**Photo National Geographic

Modern Day Guru’s Part II - Big Sale Today!

All modern day gurus are selling something. It might be a service, a get rich quick scheme, mediation techniques, flat abs, shoes or a fountain of youth.

Today’s gurus are honed pitchmen that know how to manipulate the general public, usually through physiological methods. They make promises that work for a small percentage of the population (usually when diet is concerned). For the most part what they’re selling is a hoax, usually repackaged from older hoaxes, and it’s perpetuated on a suffering group of people, as Thoreau said, “the mass of humanity live lives of quite desperation,” and the modern day gurus bet on this pain—not plan, pain.”

Modern day gurus use a method to sell their products and their religions. They’re master pitchmen (or women).

Jesus Christ is free.

Modern day gurus all follow a pattern for top marketing.

Brand Description - Usually a symbol
Personality – Modern gurus have dynamic and charismatic personalities
Key attributes – Usually enthusiasm and interest in your well-being
Packaging – Study guides, lessons, books that always cost money
Presentation or persuasive presentation – This can range from a guru walking down a blue carpet and rose peddles tossed by veiled women to an austere stage, a fashionably dressed person with a German accident, or full blown tattooed maniac in the spirit revival. However he/she’s packaged her “stuff,” you need it to be skinny, happy, saved or healed.
Mission Statement – Usually to unite something, or enlighten you, help you lose weight, change your life, become one with God.

This is the pattern of Jesus Christ:

Everyone has sinned
The penalty for sin is death
Jesus died for our sins
To be forgiven we must believe and confess that Jesus is Lord
Salvation comes through Jesus Christ

There is no money to be made from Jesus’ marketing plan, so modern gurus think up a different plans—or marketing strategies to sell their ideas, religion or products. Sometimes they mix up several other programs, religions or philosophies, but they’re never a unique idea but an uneducated person won't know this--they'll think this guru is phenomenal, unique, modern, it. All eliminate truths that will not attract followers.

Sin and hell is removed from false religious lexicons. There is no hell or damnation. Doesn't exist, just what's inside of your bliss mind -- Jesus just got nailed on a cross for nothing other than he "staged it" and "man" wrote the Bible so it's flawed.

The do not advise you to read the Bible but they'll surely miss quote it.

Your failure is their cornerstone to success. It’s your fault and you need to take step two, or buy this book, teaching, food, whatever they’re selling. It then requires your study and application, usually filling all of your free time so you have no time to think about the insane thing you're involved in, and when you fail they’ll blame your inability to understand the program. You’ll leave and find another modern day guru who will promise you the same thing.

In what ways will you fail?

You will not lose those ten pounds - and keep them off forever
You will not find the truth inside of you
You will not free yourself from your mind without a lobotomy
You will not find cosmic consciousness
You will not be stress free
You will not appreciate every moment of your life
You will not see a flower growing

Jesus Christ does not make promises he can’t keep. Once he said it, it’s done, so strong is his promise.

He gives assurance that you’re saved eternally. “These things I have written to you so you believe on the Son of God; that you know you have eternal life.”1 John 5:13

If gurus promise you’ll feel “something” as proof their brand of religion is real, remember this: “Do not say, I don’t feel it? Feeling is not the evidence, or proof for you to trust. Your feelings may change like the wind, but God’s Word never changes. He says: Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:35

Which words would you rather trust? God’s unchanging Word, or your ever changing feelings?

Jesus promise is simple – accept Him and be saved.

Guru’s programs are complex and there’s a lot to do and remember. Gurus will tell you it’s an inner world to strive for, but Jesus says we are not saved by trying, but by trusting in what He has done for us.

Stay tuned for part III - Who are Modern Day Guru's