I have looked at The Message a few times in the past years, and I saw it as a blatant perversion of God’s Holy Word. I just thought that someone tried to make the Bible “hip” or more relevant for our times. But now I am seeing clearly that this unholy mess is completely New Age. I will show the readers of this article why I know that The Message is New Age.
The Message has sold over 10 million copies!! The list of prominent people in the Christian world who endorse this evil work is beyond belief. The list of names will shock you. On the other hand, the endorsement by Rick Warren was expected. Not only does he lack discernment, but he is waging war on Christianity with his devilish “Chrislam.”
First, let’s start with the author of this mystical mess. His name is Eugene Peterson. He was the pastor of a Presbyterian Church USA for 29 years. He was Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia until he retired in 2006.
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY?
“Spiritual theology is a branch of theology that emphasizes living “in the spirit” instead of “in the flesh.” In other words, it is concerned with how a person grows and develops spiritually. The term spiritual theology is most often used in Catholic circles, where it involves the exploration of the works an individual must perform in order to advance to “perfection” in the Christian life. Spiritual theology is seen by Catholic theologians as the uniting of the theologies of aestheticism and mysticism.” [1]
He has written many other books. Here are the titles of some of his works:
Traveling Light: Modern Meditations on St. Paul’s Letter of Freedom(Helmers & Howard Publishing, 1988)
Wisdom of Each Other: A Conversation Between Spiritual Friends (Zondervan, 2001)
The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980) [2]
Mr. Peterson has written many other books, but the titles of those listed here are quite telling. I will show you that Eugene Peterson is a New Age teacher, and that his purpose in writing The Message was to draw unsuspecting Christians into New Age practices.
SATAN’S PLAN
Let us look first at the agenda of Occultists for Bible believing Christians:
1. CHRISTIANITY MUST EMBRACE MYSTICISM
2. DOCTRINES ABOUT THE BIBLE REJECTED
3. BIBLE TO BE INTERPRETED AND TAUGHT ALLEGORICALLY, NOT LITERALLY
4. CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE TO BE CHANGED
5. NEW BIBLES WILL CONTAIN NEW GOSPEL AND NEW MESSAGE
6. MYSTICISM TO BE TAUGHT IN CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH SEMINARIES
7. MYSTICISM TO BE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO AVERAGE PERSON
8.THOSE TEACHING MYSTICISM TO THE CHURCH WILL DENY IT
9. NEW AGE MYSTICISM TO BE PROMOTED BY THE CHURCH AND MASONRY
10. MYSTICISM WILL BECOME THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION THROUGH THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT
11. WORLD BIBLE TO BE BASED ON MYSTICISM [3] (please see this source which elaborates on each of these goals of the Occult.)
So, those are Satan’s plans for the world. In an earlier article I wrote on the Lucis Trust, I exposed the U.N. for their plans to bring “Enlightenment” to the entire world through New Age teachings. We can see clearly that Satan is scheming on every level of our lives. The ONLY thing that will keep us safe is the Word of the Living God – and reading it daily!
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1Timothy 4:1)
DOCTRINES OF DEVILS IN THE MESSAGE
I have taken most of this section straight from:
http://www.av1611.org/kjv/mess_bible.html (A most excellent website)
We have established that Eugene Peterson is New Age. Now, I will show you that The Message is really a message from the evil one. Let’s first look at terminologies used in the KJB Vs The Message:
“LORD”
7970 times in the KJB. The Message has Lord 71 times.
“LORD JESUS CHRIST”
118 times in the KJV New Testament, and 0 (Zero) times in The Message.
“Let us clarify something . . . the total amputation of the “Lord Jesus” is no accident. It is not an issue of translation or Greek manuscripts. It is not a matter of updating archaic words or making it easier to understand. It was a deliberate and intentional doctrinal decision to remove the “Lord Jesus.”
Please note that Judas never called Jesus “Lord.” He always called Him Master. Judas denied the Lordship of Jesus — always calling Him “Master.”
“MASTER JESUS” IN THE MESSAGE
“The Mess calls Jesus “Master” over 400 times and the unique New Age phrase “Master Jesus” appears 76 times! The only other Bible I found “Master Jesus” in was the New Age Bible titled The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The following examples (among many) of the “Master Jesus” in The Mess loudly echo the Judas-inspired, New Age doctrine of the “Master Jesus.”
As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Acts 7:59
Then some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to Antioch started talking to Greeks, giving them the Message of the Master Jesus. Acts 11:20
And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. 2 Corinthians 4:14
He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!” Yes! Come, Master Jesus! The grace of the Master Jesus be with all of you. Oh, Yes! Revelation 22:20-21” [4]
“MASTER GOD” IN THE MESSAGE
“Not content with propagating the NAM “Master Jesus,” The Mess continues its “master” plan. The “Lord God” occurs 546 times in the King James Bible. The “Lord God” briefly appears 9 times in the Mess. The Mess replaces the “Lord God” with “Master God.” I could not find the “Master God” in any other Bible version.
Again, notice the new age, mystic tone of the “Master God” in the Mess.
Abram said, “Master GOD, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?” Genesis 15:8
King David went in, took his place before GOD, and prayed: “Who am I, my Master GOD, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? 2 Samuel 7:18”
He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Master GOD, only you know that.”
Ezekiel 37:3
THE “DIVINE GUARDIANS” IN THE MESSAGE
“The NAM identifies their “Masters” as “divine guardians” and “custodians of the Divine Plan.” The New-Age Tara Center describes the “Masters” as “custodians” of the Divine Plane:
The Masters, together forming the Spiritual Hierarchy, are the custodians of the Divine Plan for this planet. (Basics of Ageless Wisdom, Tara Center, p. 3).
In Deuteronomy 32:8, the Mess also references these “divine guardians” who “care for the Earth.” This is not Biblical Christianity. And this is not in the Hebrew text! Notice the complete change from the King James Bible.
When the High God gave the nations their stake, gave them their place on Earth, He put each of the peoples within boundaries under the care of divine guardians. Deuteronomy 32:8
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 32:8, KJB”
THE “ONE” IN THE MESSAGE
“The New Age Movement revolves around the “One.” Riplinger writes in New Age Versions: “Virtually all exposes on the New Age Movement observe ‘the One’ is this movement’s object of worship.” (Riplinger, G.A. New Age Versions, p. 85)
New Age guru H.P. Blavatsky teaches the NAM begins with “the One”:
“The esoteric theogony begins with the One. . . ” (Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine. Vol. 1, Page 94)
“The Secret Doctrine carries this idea into the region of metaphysics and postulates a ‘One Form of Existence’ as the basis and source of all things.” (Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine. Vol. 1, Page 46)
In the following quote Blavatsky states Jehovah and the Serpent [Satan] that tempted Eve both are the “One”.
It is curious that Jehovah’s name in Hebrew should also be One,. . . Jehovah — esoterically (as Elohim) — is also the Serpent or Dragon that tempted Eve. . .(Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine. Vol. 1, Page 73)
The One theology stems from pantheism. The word Pantheism derives from the Greek words pan meaning “all” and theos meaning “god.” Pantheism teaches God is All and All is God or “One”. It rejects a personal, loving God, instead defining God as “Presence” or “One.” Infoplease defines “pantheism” as “a denial of God’s personality and expresses a tendency to identify God and nature.” The god Pan appears as a cloven-foot, half-man, half-goat satyr playing the hypnotic “pan pipes.” (Ezek. 28:13) Occultist Albert Pike describes Satan as “. . . the mythologic and horned form of the God Pan. . .” (Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 102) The Satanic Bible (p. 144) also includes Pan in its list of Infernal Names of Satan. Hence, a pan-theist follows Satan.
During a NAM meeting in Boulder, New Age leader Jose Arguelles told his listeners to, “. . . invite “PAN” in, accepting him as the leader and guide for their lives. . . that ‘right now Mother Earth is bringing Pan back to save us and lead us into the New Age. We can help by surrendering to him. . .” (www.raidersnewsupdate.com/gaia.htm)
Make no mistake — Pan is the “One” of the New Age religion.
The New Testament of the King James Bible never refers to God or the Lord Jesus as the impersonal One. Several times Jesus Christ is called the Holy One and the Just One, but never an impersonal, mystic One. The Mess changes the personal pronouns such as he and him (that reference Jesus and God) and personal nouns such as the Father, with the impersonal pantheistic “One” over 102 times in the New Testament! The following verses from The Mess loudly resonant the New Age “One” mantra.
No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father–and you can see me. John 6:46
As John was finishing up his work, he said, ‘Did you think I was the One? No, I’m not the One. But the One you’ve been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I’m about to disappear.’ Act 13:25
Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, Hebrews 2:11”
Every time the Animals gave glory and honor and thanks to the One Seated on the Throne–the age-after-age Living One—Revelation 4:9
“ONENESS” IN THE MESSAGE
Building upon the “One” concept, a distinct code-word among the mystic New Agers is “oneness.”
“The root idea of the New Age is oneness, unity and wholeness—the One for all.”
(Groothuis, Douglas R. Unmasking the New Age, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 1986, p. 115)
“This oneness of life is the crux of the New Age movement.”
(Yungen, Ray. A Time of Departing, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Silverton, 2002 p. 130)
“Oneness” is an unusual and bizarre word, not appearing in most dictionaries. Only New Agers recognize the “oneness” teaching. Following the mystic New Age “Oneness” script, The Mess says in Ephesians 4:6, “Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness”. The word “permeate” means “spread throughout” or “to penetrate”. According to The Mess, “Everything you are and think and do is spread throughout with Oneness.” Make no mistake about it — this is heavy-duty New Age doctrine.
The New Age guidebook Metaphysical Primer: A Guide to Understanding Metaphysics gives nearly the exact same principle of the New Age Movement, “Everything is one with everything else. All that is on Earth is an expression of the One Deity and is permeated with Its energies.” (Yungen, Ray. A Time of Departing, p. 52)
The Mess doesn’t stop there. It continues to spread the New Age “Oneness.”
I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness. . . John 17:23
Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness. . .1 Corinthians 10:17
Another “oneness” term the New Age Religion exercises is “interdependence.”
Constance Cumbey writes in The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, “Another key teaching of this movement is that all things are ‘interconnected’ or ‘interdependent’”. (Cumbey, Constance, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, p. 67)
Cult author Dr. Walter Martin, identifies “interdependence” as a New Age “buzz-word” used to “describe the oneness”.
Interdependence/Interconnectedness – These words are used by New Agers to describe the oneness and essential unity of everything in the universe. (Martin, Walter, The New Age Cult, p. 129)
Like a hypnotized cobra being charmed by the sweet sound of the piper, The Mess serenely dances to the New Age Piper (Ezek. 28:13) while singing the song of interdependence.
Everyone I meet–it matters little whether they’re mannered or rude, smart or simple–deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation. Romans 1:14
“THE PRESENCE” IN THE MESSAGE
Another key New Age teaching surrounds “the Presence.” The NAM “Presence” forms a mystic, impersonal pantheist “presence” of God. The following quotes reveal the importance of the “Presence” in the New Age agenda.
Occultism sums up the ‘One Existence’ thus: ‘Deity is an arcane, living (or moving) fire, and the eternal witnesses to this unseen Presence. . .” (Blavatsy, H.P. The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1, Page 2)
The Christ Self, then, has communication with the Father who in both Principle and Person is the Presence of God, the I AM THAT I AM, or the I AM Presence. (Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Mysteries of the Holy Grail, p. 217)
Alice Bailey reveals the “Presence” strikes a blow at the Biblical “transcendent” God or a God that exists apart from nature and man.
This inevitably brings in the concept of the Presence, or of God Immanent and is the result of the needed revolt against the one-sidedness of the belief in God Transcendent.” (Bailey, Alice, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 355)
The Mess refers to God at least 34 times as the NAM “Presence.” Teaching the God of the Bible as a mystic Presence constitutes blatant blasphemy. This can only be defined within a New Age viewpoint. In sharp contrast, remember, the Mess NEVER directly refers to Jesus as Lord. The following verses (of many) echo the NAM mystic “Presence” of the Mess:
No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. John 3:13
I saw a Great White Throne and the One Enthroned. Nothing could stand before or against the Presence, nothing in Heaven, nothing on earth. Revelation 20:11
The Mess calls the sacred “shewbread” as the mystic “Bread of the Presence” eight times [Ex. 25:30, 35:13, 39:36, 1 Sam. 21:6, 1 Kings 7:48, 2 Chron. 4:19, 29:18].
Always keep fresh Bread of the Presence on the Table before me. Exodus 25:30
“THE ENERGY” IN THE MESSAGE
Energy activates the spiritual “force” of the New Age religion. Prayers, meditations, invocations, and rituals all create energies.
The Mess explicitly promotes the NAM mystical “energy.” Energy appears 40 times in The Mess. Note: Energy only appears one time in some of the other per-versions. The Mess leaves no doubt concerning its faith in the New Age “energy” force.
In Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:28, the Mess changes “pray” to “the energies of prayer.” Apparently, God no longer answers our prayers, instead, the prayer itself, generates “the energy.” The Bible definition of prayer means “to ask.” (Matthew 21:22)
When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. Luke 6:28
Mark 5:30 and Luke 16:19 no longer reads “virtue” leaving the Lord Jesus, but “energy discharging” or “surging” from him.
At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” Mark 5:30
The following are a few more (of many) undeniable NAM “energy” doctrine in the Mess:
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, Ephesians 1:20
That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Philippians 2:13
“THE LIGHT” IN THE MESSAGE
A casual study of the New Age religion quickly exposes their light-god. A best selling New Age book of the 90’s was Embraced by the Light by Betty Eadie. Light is the cornerstone of NAM.
The popular new age prayer called The Great Invocation by Alice Bailey, (originally published by Lucifer Publishing), begins with the words, “From the point of Light within the Mind of God Let Light stream forth into the minds of men. Let Light descend on Earth.” And it ends with “Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.”
This Light will irradiate (in a fashion unknown before) not only the Father’s House, which is the source of all our planetary light. . This light will now flood the world of men, bringing illumination to men’s minds and light into the dark places of human living It is light and – above all else . . .” (Bailey, Alice. The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 58)
To this light the mystics testify, and it is this light into which they enter, and which enters into them, revealing the light which is latent and drawing it forth to potency. “In Thy light shall we see light.” This is the outstanding fact of scientific mysticism. God is light. . . (Bailey, Alice. From Bethlehem to Calvary, p. 153)
The Mess is flooded with the mystic NAM “light.” The Mess adds “light” when light is not in the text. It magically transforms simple “light” into NAM “God-light” or “Life-light.” The following verses from The Mess compared with the KJB clearly reveal the NAM “light” agenda.
“LIGHT BEARERS” IN THE MESSAGE
Lucifer literally means “light bearer.” And New Agers, who recognize Lucifer as their god, proudly wear the title “light-bearer.”
“. . . the one in whom the light shines becomes a light-bearer in a dark world.”(Bailey, Alice. The Rays and The Initiations, p. 49)
These words carry meaning to all true disciples and present them with an analogous goal which they define to themselves as that of finding the light, appropriating the light, and themselves becoming light-bearers.
(Bailey, Alice. The Rays and The Initiations, p. 143)
The Mystic Mess also claims the Luciferian New Age banner, “light-bearer.”
If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?. . . Matthew 5:15
Another well-known NAM term is “light-seeds.” And again (and again. . .), The Mess preaches NAM agenda.
Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people. . . Psalm 97:11
THE REST OF THE MESS (SEE SOURCE FOR ELABORATION)
The Mystic Lotus
The Green Hope
Chanting
Age after Age after Age
As Above So Below
Sex sex and more sex [4]
CONCLUSION
Brethren, I you are not yet convinced that The Message is grounded in New Age teachings, then if I were you, I’d ask the Lord to open my eyes and give me discernment.
As a matter of fact, if you are not convinced, I do think that you should examine yourselves to make sure that you are in the faith.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”(2 Corinthians 13:5)
MARANATHA!
Shalom b’Yeshua
[1]http://www.gotquestions.org/spiritual-theology.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H._Peterson
[3] http://watch.pair.com/message.html
[4]http://www.av1611.org/kjv/mess_bible.html