Whose Big Toe Is God?

by Ruth Ann Cramer

A number of Religious Ed teachers met with their Area Director to voice concerns about the New Age emphasis in the education program. In defending her mandate that energy religion principles be taught throughout the system, the Director pulled one foot from her shoe, waggled it under their noses and pontificated, "Even my big toe is god!"

Mourners had a hard time concentrating during the funeral commending their beloved Father, Grandpa and Uncle, Charlie Jones, to celestial bliss. To their consternation, a huge stuffed lion — resplendent with shiny brass eyes, gold-tufted tail and a red satin bow tied beneath his royal head — sat enthroned upon the altar. The Pastor announced the deceased's Zodiac sign was Leo — Leo, the Lion.

A church Council sponsored a four-week series,"Amphibian Spirituality: Meditating On Amphibians To See Jesus"; taught by a church employee who kept a large bronze frog on his desk to foster enlightenment. At a meeting of fifty-plus members concerned about the New Age stranglehold on their Religious Ed program, a Council member defended the Council's choice. Someone spoke up, "Tell me. If I meditate on frogs, how does the Holy Spirit speak to me? Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit?"

A clergyman well-known in faith healing circles, and billed as an up-and-coming name in Pranic healing (no-touch, "energy" healing), boasted his historic break-through: He'd "incorporated Christ" into the pranic ritual – "to recharge the body and improve productivity, sexuality and personal magnetism." When the audience distracted him, he boomed, "Quiet! Jesus is speaking!"

SO, WHY CARE?

Am I just nit-picking? Harping on subjects past their prime? Fighting a losing battle? Matthew and I long for allto know the One True God, and to enjoy eternal life. We have seen how deviating from belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit deeply affects one’s natural and spiritual life in definite, negative and destructive — even mortally wounding — ways. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we take seriously His directives to teach the Truth, unchain those in bondage and set free captives.

This posting and its companion, The Blue–Eyed Satanist, constitute an overview of what we call our Other Than God (OTG) series of religious or spiritual pursuits. Please read both of them to gain the fullest picture.

SO, WHAT'S TO WORRY?

An amazing amalgam of psychic, spiritual and religious beliefs, fables and lies, has not only melded into Christian culture, but is being promoted by hospitals, healing institutions, retreat houses, recovery groups, spirituality centers, convents, schools, universities, work places; groups, churches, non-profits, dioceses and parishes.

Masked in seductive religious and spiritual jargon,  this mostly pantheistic amalgam includes, Gnosticism, Reiki, Guided Imagery, Therapeutic Touch, Creation Centered Spirituality, occult practices and universal energy religion. It uses theories, superstition, supposed ancient mysteries, astrology, channeling, chakras, crystals, mandalas, enneagrams and labyrinths to facilitate its ultimate aim to entrap, manipulate and imprison Christian disciples.

Lumped under so-called, New Age principles and practices, the New Age label can be a real turnoff, so New Age doesn't announce itself as such. Veiled and shaped by deception and idolatry, New Age entangles by misdirection, obfuscation, and fantasy. Seekers may be drawn through lack of faith, boredom, curiosity, need for healing, excitement or attention, and/or a drive to acquire a mysterious or unique spirituality with "special" powers. New Age enthralls and excites as one is invited to gain particular knowledge, enjoy a more interesting, exotic or profound spiritual "life", as well as win the attention of others; and even, a chance at notoriety.

Trouble is . . . from innocent dabbling, to escalation, to a supposedly "more excellent way" of becoming a practitioner, healer or "Ascended Master", this progressive impetus, this motivational momentum of involvement, compels one ever, ever deeper into veiled bondage. The way grows dark indeed! (Though those ensnared will insist the rest of us, who are not ascended, are spiritually simple; and too restricted by ordinary faith and blind obedience to understand.)

The hard truth is: Neither innocence, nor ignorance, will change the awful consequences when Christians participate in New Age practices. Deadly dangerous to one's spiritual life, it's imperative that Christians caught in New Age, recognize the deception, and return to the narrow path of Jesus Christ, His Father and The Holy Spirit; so they might be set free and live in truth. Not an easy task, but it can be done. It's much safer not to get involved in the first place.

New Age — sly, attractive, camouflaged, aggressive — offers much that's good. So, how can we recognize it? There are certain basic differences that make all the difference. A close study of this chart will yield much understanding.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCES

CHRISTIANITY		NEW AGE
Offers God-given Laws		Offers Freedom and non-restraint
One offers Self to God:		One sees Godhood in self:
Jesus calls for Self sacrifice		One seeks Self fulfillment
Jesus calls for Self denial		One seeks Self satisfaction
Prime mode of belief: Faith		Prime belief in Experience & The Process
Resource for growth: Sanctifying grace		Growth by Self determination and Soul work
One worships through Liturgy		One relates through Ritual
Personal Relationship is object of faith		Technique is center of belief
Willing submission to God's will		One's will is the driver
Bowing low in worship before God		One's Self is in Ascendancy
Abandonment to trust in Jesus		Trust in importance of self
Dependency on God’s Love		Dependency on Technique
Bears fruit that endures		Seeks ever-increasing spiritual high
Recognizes and Deals with sin		Sees no evil and Promises success
Communicates with Trinity		Communicates with life force
God is The Source of Life		Universal Energy is the Source and god

MORE NEW AGE CUES

Another way we can recognize New Age thinking is to take cues from New Age healing techniques. Most share the same incorrect assertions, and use these key words:

• A life force or universal energy pervades all beings and matter, uniting each individual to the cosmos tomake them one.

• Awaiting command, energy flows from the cosmos into living creatures and circulates through the body energy centers - chakras or meridians - psychic centers activated or balanced by use of centering, meditation, TM, yoga, crystals, etc. and flows out again.

• Disease results from blockage or imbalance in flow of energy through the body.

• Energy is then channeled for creative or destructive action, by direct physical contact or invisible transfer, from healer to patient, animal, thing, situation, or from a distance. Alterations in energy are the basis for supernatural events.

New Age posits that since human beings consist of:  Energy that's assumed material form, manifests intelligence and guides our physical, psychic and spiritual evolution — humans can be nothing less than God! Even the woman's big toe! Imagine the deception, the ego puffery!

Though science cannot validate, measure or monitor these energy techniques in the physical world; still, New Age says, this invisible, nonmeasurable, supposedly infinite, divine energy must be considered the basis of all existence. Give me a break!

SOME NEW AGE HEALING TECHNIQUES

Many techniques used by New Age healers reflect the fallacy of all-is-one Monism, which claims that distinctions between ones self and other objects and individuals, and between good and evil, disappear. That man is a divine being, whose purpose in life is to be aware of his divine nature through spiritual and psychic techniques. One need only take up the mantle of a divine being, and life becomes easy!

This "enlightenment" allegedly leads to receiving the psycho-spiritual power needed for energy healing. Therapeutic Touch (TM), supposedly transfers good energy from healer to patient; Healing Touch (TM), falsely claims energy flow can be realigned and the mind/body/spirit activated; Pranic Healing, taken from Prana, the ancient Hindu mysticism, supposedly taps into the source of energy that moves the universe; lastly, today's very popular Reiki alleges that through precisely-patterned moves, crystals are "charged into a grid", then — using mantras of empowering affirmation and extended prayers — asks supernatural Reiki guides, angels and archangels to charge the grid, so one can "send" Reiki.

But the promise is false. Never let yourself be led to dabble in or try any of these techniques We and others in Christian healing and counseling ministries, know by experience that practicing New Age techniques will bring only confusion, darkness, disorientation, even depression — not light, not peace.

Aliases, including universal life energy, life force, vital force, Ch'I, Ki, "the healing power of the universe"and "what religions call God" all camouflage the pretentious duplicity and deceptive lies of New Age proponents. Evil is more than happy to stimulate and simulate results — euphoria, relief, peace or a "high" — thoughts or feelings making one believe something is actually happening.

Something is happening! And, it's not good!

Look closely . . . there is no turning to, or bowing down to, or coming before in adoration, the One, Only, True God. There is no recognition or gratitude that of the Three Persons in Our eternal God, One took on human form, suffered grievously and died that we might have life eternal. All we seek is found within These Three; there is nothing to be found outside Our Beloved God.

Remember: This God who claimed, "I am the Way; I am the Truth; I am the Life" is the same God we meet when we stop breathing, and we die.

The New Age god is a supposed and unknown "force" called ENERGY. Commensurate with their claims of its godliness, the desired grace sought of this god is — bottom line — an aggrandizement of the person. What deception! What danger! What an empty waste!

BUT, IS IT REAL?

In the Spring 1998 issue of Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, New Age professional healers admit they can't prove New Age Energy theories. Two RN's, who popularized Therapeutic Touch among nurses, stated in an article, “Therapeutic Touch; What Could Be The Harm?” — "There is little support that this transfer of energy actually occurs, for there are no accepted means of measuring this transfer." Again,"We don't have empirical data to demonstrate the existence of a personal energy field. It's a working hypothesis." So much for "spiritual" fact.

Dr. Paul Reisser, M.D. in his excellent book, New Age Medicine; A Christian Perspective On Holistic Health(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987) states: "Every energy therapy comes with strings attached which ultimately pull toward the world of paranormal, overt occultism and exaltation of self as divine."

It's this shrouded hiddenness, this obscure concealment posing as something of great worth to be desired and sought after, which causes grave danger to faith and one's self. God's concern is idolatry's immanent threat to our spiritual lives. He warns us of eternal consequences of turning to other than Him, and out of love for us, forbids us!

“You shall not practice augury or witchcraft. Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19:26,31 RSV)

" …so they are without excuse, for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools …and exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Ro 1:20-25 RSV)

" …in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me." But evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing. Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed, perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you. Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame …they wander about each in his own direction; there is no one to save you. (Isa 47:9-15 RSV)

OR, IS IT A LIE?

Wow! We can't say God doesn't warn us! Remember, Satan promised Eve, "…You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…" (Gen 3:4,5 RSV) Just imagine Adam and Eve watching as the body of their son, Abel, putrefied in the sun; and realizing they'd swallowed A Big Fat Lie! Instigated and promulgated by A Liar From The Start — as Jesus called him — Satan's lie even now resounds, insinuating that God withheld special knowledge we can acquire; and this knowledge will raise us up, make us gods.

Recognize the appeal here? You poor God-followers! God and his reps are keeping the good stuff from you. Your own god-liness is cloaked, hidden away! You have a right to discover your true self, and experience fully what's rightfully yours! Just open your mind; know your god-dom.

Open our minds? Evil wants us blind and dumb. We only think we see. We only think we know. We deliver ourselves up, render ourselves vulnerable, because we want to know more, experience more, acquire a "special edge", have and use special powers, and be raised up. We start with empty and seeking, or curious and interested, then escalate to intrigued and excited, become impressed and influenced, then sold out, and . . . end up trapped in deep, deep bondage.

Because New Age won't listen for the Holy Spirit, the resultant lack of spiritual truth leads to (1) absence of true discernment, (2) increasing confusion and (3) ignorance of spiritual reality. New Age never mentions sin; yet, unable to recognize the absence of fruit and the presence of deception, this blindness makes one a prime target for idolatry, moral weakness and occult bondage.

EVIL IS, AS EVIL DOES

Above all, trust God's Word! From our limited experience, we offer this: Through the occult — the ultimate aim of the evil behind New Age beliefs and practices — demonic spirits are contacted — whether one believes in evil spirits or not. When evil is allowed in, even unknowingly, bondage happens! One may say, "I didn't know." or "No one told me." Or "That's not what I intended."

Or worse: "New Age is spiritually effective and all-good; and I don't believe in evil spirits." Aaahh, but ignorance and good intentions do not negate the consequences!

These deadly consequences will not fade with time; nor will demons flee because we change our mind or stop practicing New Age. We let evil in: In the Name of Jesus, we must order evil out of our lives. Then, we must protect our reclaimed minds, hearts, spirits. (For more on this part, see Discarding Evil Spirits in The Sandbox). We treasure the unutterable grace and beauty of a personal relationship with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and must do all possible to nourish, retain and invigorate that bond, that interrelating, through daily — if not, moment-to-moment — prayer.

Please remember: Labeling New Age practice as Christian, spiritual, or even done in the name of Jesus Christ,does not make it Christian or a work of God. As Jesus Christ said:

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'’ (Mt 7:21-23 RSV)

Let those of us who cry "Lord, Lord", remain bound in wisdom and truth to The One Lord Alone! Let us pledge fidelity to The One, True Lord — Jesus Christ, Son of God; His and our dear, dear Father; and our Ultimate Instructor, The Holy Spirit. We bow low before The One True God.

Source: http://www.cramer-institute.com/TheSandbox/WhoseBigToeIsGod.html

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Facing The Self

It is easy to comprehend this phrase "facing the self" but to those who are in spiritual path could understand how a person partakes himself in this situation.  Facing the self means a lot of things to me, through my personal experience.  A self is when you see yourself to others, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Whatever we do things affect others, and is just a reflection what as well as others do to you.  When you face the self, it means there's something that we are flawed in, maybe it needs change in ourselves, especially when ego and pride is in control of our own selves.

It simply means part of the growing process, no matter what degree is when we see our flaw and take some moments to reflect what needs to be improved in one's personal aspect.  It is the greatest enemy the moment when you face yourself.  It is you.  It is your experience that you need to be in control of the situation.  It is the self facing against what may hinder you from your own spiritual growth.

Working ourselves is a path to spiritual development as we continue the quest until we return to the giver of life, and that is God.

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Spiritual Arrogance

What is arrogance?

Arrogance means “bigging yourself up”—whether publicly or just inside your own mind. Often it involves knocking others down at the same time.

It is generally defined as:

The act or habit of making undue claims in an overbearing manner;

that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree;

proud contempt of others. [1]

Other names for arrogance are: egotism, conceit, grandiosity, and self-importance.

Ancient Greek literature refers to hubris, a form of arrogance in which a person thinks himself to be higher in status than other ordinary mortals. In other words, a god.

As with the opposite chief feature of self-deprecation, arrogance is a way of manipulating others’ perceptions of yourself in order to avoid taking a “hit” to your self-esteem. In this case, however, the basic strategy is to get others to see you as special, perfect or flawless — diverting attention from your ordinary imperfections, weaknesses and failings — and thereby keeping your self-esteem artificially inflated.

Components of arrogance

Like all chief features, arrogance involves the following components:

1. Early negative experiences
2. Misconceptions about the nature of self, life or others
3. A constant fear and sense of insecurity
4. A maladaptive strategy to protect the self
5. A persona to hide all of the above in adulthood

Early Negative Experiences

In the case of arrogance, the early negative experiences typically consist of disapproval or outright criticism from significant others, especially the parents but also siblings and others.

All infants are born with a natural desire for love, care and attention. Ideally, these are readily available and given unconditionally. Generally, though, life is imperfect and young children experience some degree of harshness or deprivation in their upbringing.

An infant believes the world revolves around him. It’s all about me. This is quite normal, and the average child will move beyond that stage by recognizing that they are a part of a family, that there are others in the world, and that it is better to consider what others want rather than be completely self-centered.

In some cases, though, a child can get stuck in needing to put me first. Sometimes, a child’s ability to receive love, care, attention, etc. has to be competed for and is conditional upon her being a certain way and/or not being some other way. Alternatively, she may receive equal measures of love and antagonism, or care and neglect, or attention and abandonment. She will then want to figure out which aspects of herself trigger which reactions.

Perhaps the most typical scenario is one of sibling rivalry, where the children must compete for the parents’ attention, approval and affection. Children in this kind of set-up soon realise that the rewards and punishments given out by their parents are a direct result of how the parents perceive their children—and those perceptions can be manipulated.

The way to compete, then, is to manipulate the parents’ perceptions by highlighting or exaggerating the other kids’ faults while apparently being “the good one”.

All of this, of course, is a very common childhood experience—which is why arrogance is a very common character flaw.

Misconceptions

From such experiences of competition, disapproval and conditional love, the child comes to perceive her well-being as dependent upon others’ perceptions:

My well-being in life depends upon how others see me.

Fear

As a result of this misconception, the child becomes gripped by an entrenched fear of her vulnerability to negative perceptions—

Being vulnerable to any kind of criticism or disapproval is bad for me.

Any perceived weakness, failing or imperfection in me is contemptible and unacceptable.

If I show any of my real weaknesses, failings or imperfections, it could be disastrous.

Hence, showing vulnerability in the eyes of others becomes unacceptable and frightening.

Strategy

The basic strategy for coping with this fear of vulnerability to others’ perceptions is to manipulate others’ perceptions—to ensure that there is never anything for them to disapprove of or criticise.

I must draw attention only to my winning qualities.

I must never show my real self, which I know to be imperfect and weak and flawed.

I must always appear to be “better” in some way than my rivals.

Typically this involves:

• drawing attention to and exaggerating one’s own strengths, successes and specialness while diminishing, hiding and denying one’s own weaknesses, failings and ordinariness;
• drawing attention to and exaggerating others’ weaknesses, failings and ordinariness while diminishing, hiding and denying their strengths, successes and specialness.

The most primitive form of this is blatant, shameless boastfulness combined with outright derision of others to their faces. “I’m better than you, so there.” The individual hopes that if she says it often enough the world will just agree and there will be no more competition. This is impossible, of course.

Persona

It is unacceptable to be too obviously arrogant and manipulative in most adult settings. Just going around bragging is “against the rules” in most social circles — though a number of rap artists make a good living out of expressing this form of arrogance.

A more subtle form of the arrogance strategy is to point to evidence which, hopefully, will lead others to reach the right conclusion by themselves. Hence the chief feature of arrogance puts on a mask which quietly says to the world, “I’m not being arrogant. I’m not saying I’m better than you. It’s just that…” Arrogance keeps up the same message, typically by telling true stories which indirectly convey yet more evidence of one’s own specialness and wonderfulness. “I’ve had such a hard day! Silly people won’t stop calling me just to say how much they like my new book.”

There is no better lie than a lie based on truth. The mask of arrogance likes to surround itself with “truths” which reinforce the image of invulnerability.

And if the individual should find himself in an actual position of superior status or power, the chief feature goes to town. In his book The Hubris Syndrome: Bush, Blair and the Intoxication of Power the British politician David Owen argues that President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair developed a “Hubristic Syndrome” while in power, particularly in their handling of the Iraq War.

All people are capable of this kind of behaviour. When it dominates the personality, however, one is said to have a chief feature of arrogance.

Source: http://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/chief-features/arrogance/l-teachings/chief-features/arrogance/

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Trusting My Instinct

Recently I had a rift with one of my Facebook friends that lead to deleting me in one of his friend’s lists.  The issue was so simple and can be easily resolved if both of us will agree to talk about it heart to heart.  Unfortunately it did not happen and we had a word war that caused ourselves to block one another in Facebook.   Prior to this rift, we had one that we were able to resolve it.  Just to cut the story short, I won’t elaborate the incident but this insight will explain how my instinct worked with me.

After our first misunderstanding happened, we had reconciliation and some issues went passed already.  I have two accounts on Facebook, the first one I was active and I seldom visit my second account.  In one of the spiritual groups of Facebook, this person administers the group where I was a member for both Facebook account.  In my first account of that spiritual group I deleted myself due to misunderstanding of some of the members and the one that was left was my second Facebook account that I was still being a member of that group.  Since I seldom use my second account I lose sight of being a member of the same spiritual group.

Here’s the big part why my instinct was working.  After we had resolved our issues, it seemed that I ‘d like to visit my second Facebook account. My soul searched for something until I’ve finally was abl;e to solve that piece of puzzle and alas, I found out that I was deleted from the spiritual group.  And the next thing I have found out that this person blocked me on my second account that we were not even friends for the second one, although we were friends on my first account.  My soul pushed me to dig something more out of this incident that it validated that my 6^th sense was working with me.  I was able to find out that it was really his intention to do these things even if we had truce for the first misunderstanding that we had.  He planned it out that he thought I won’t be able to find out but it seemed that he faked his truce on me but at the back of his mind he already planned was he’s going to do.

Our instinct works based on what we can observe from other people who we are connected with.  Just like what happened 6 years ago when I was able to find out too that my associate cheated me and found out through his email.  It was just that something pushed me to open this person’s email account since I also had an access to his business email.

This is how our sixth sense works, it guides us to solve a piece of puzzle and maybe an angel is whispering something in our ear so we can find out something wrong is happening.

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A Great Year to Start

What a great year to start! The month of January was exciting for I was blessed with projects when it comes to photography.  Recently I was busy doing some editing works for the prenup shoots.  It took me about two weeks to finish editing some works since it was re-processed through the use of Lightroom and Photoshop softwares.  Before the end of January, I had some perfume orders.  First month of the year is lean season. but surprisingly I had some perfume orders.  Last January 30, I went to a resort in Binangonan because I covered a team-building event.  And then on Saturday, I met some of my old time friends and we had a song practice for the upcoming 50th wedding ceremony.  And yesterday, we went to the Church where the wedding is going to be held and then proceeded to my friend's house to finalize the songs that we will be singing for the wedding ceremony.

But why am I writing this?  Because I'm just being positive that this year will be a great year for more projects.  I do plan to revive my e-commerce business and it's going to be on it's 9th year in operation including how it was planned way back in 2006.  This was the business that brought me into greater height and aspire to do the same this year.

Well I wish myself good luck and to have fun for the rest of this year.

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