Scientology.....revamped Gnosticism

"And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep." 2 Peter 2:3 AMP

A coworker of mine, who knows that I am a chaplain and regularly in the Word at work asked me about my opinion concerning Tom Cruise and his commercials endorsing the Scientology religion. My coworker, having gotten my attention with the Tom Cruise commercials, reeled me in with "Oh, but is Scientology a religion?"

I got him back and said, "Yes. It is a common misconception that Christianity is a religion." And with that, we were off to the races….so to speak…………

No matter if you subscribe to atheism or to Catholicism, there are commonalities that every person upon this planet embraces.

"This world is not my home."

"The material world is in a broken state and utterly flawed."

And then, the diversion occurs. In each and every religious cult, sect, or organization there lies a person who has totally built, redesigned, or rearranged the truth to fit their desires for power, wealth, fame, and/or fortune. Buddha, Islam, Hinduism, Scientology, and so on. The closer we get to the end of times, the more 'religions' seek to find the universal truth; that man….currently in a flawed state for whatever reason, has within himself (or herself to be PC) the power and unwoken desire to be the god they were designed to be.

The closer we get to the realization of the culpability of Man in its own destruction that has been perpetuated through the ages, we see to confuse and hide the issue of the irreversible truth that stands before our eyes….. We realize that the fallen state of the world, the diseases that ravage our populations, and the worldwide emptiness that pervades even the heartiest of souls are, in truth, our fault. We have caused the ills of the world. We don't deserve to be restored.

These 'religions' that have grown since the Fall try and negate the Christian truth that we all find so disturbing and unsettling realistic, by drawing the attention away from what our hearts know to be true and filling our thoughts with the wisdom of 'inner truth' and the commonalities that bind the world's religious creeds together. By enlightenment and waking from the sleeping reality that Christianity represents, those select few will realize the 'true' Christianity, where we can all return to the spiritual state of authority that we once knew but have lost through the deception of the workings of another or even creation itself.

Scientology is nothing more than twentieth century Gnosticism. And all Gnosticism is is dehistoricized, psychological, woman-friendly, and fulfilling answer to the 'something more' pull that exists in the Christian community today. We love to love the 'figurehead' of Christianity but can't really deal with the 'faith in what is unseen' declarations He makes. Scientology and the rest of the world's religions fill this 'something more' need that represents a 'clean and unadulterated' faith that can only be realized by a select few, because the vast hordes of humanity will never wake up to the realization that the purest form of godliness is within…..not withheld by some figment of our imaginations of a God who creates and runs……… Such a powerful, wise, and large god wouldn't simply give the Truth in a format that everyone; regardless of status, wealth, or race, would understand.

What kind of god would that be?

As the world draws to its unnatural end, we will find more and more people seeking and being misled by false teachers and prophets, easily identified by their words and deeds and still capable of hauling vast amounts of unbelievers away from the Truth. And it may seem that the Army of God has been overwhelmed and defeated because such men (and women to be PC) often don't realize any suffering or anguish while here upon this world.

We just have to realize as Peter tells us, those wicked and false teachers will be kept until the day of judgment when they are punished with the 'god' they served along with his defeated and broken army.

As Christ told us, we have to tell the world. Stop believing what someone puts in front of you and declares to be the 'truth'. Seek knowledge, seek wisdom, and seek that perfect fit to the void that echoes in your soul.

If you do that, you will find what you seek……………………

And realize that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of the World.

Weekend thoughts...........

"Experience has made it certain that the clergyman's wife must either throw in her lot unreservedly with her husband's difficult and distinctive career, and reap her reward with a range and depth of personal influence which are unequalled in the case of any other married woman, or she must separate herself from his work and life with consequences ruinous both in his success and to her own credit, and, we must add, to the happiness of both." Herbert Hensley Henson, formerly the Bishop of Durham, in the Bishoprick papers.

Reading for a group I belong to a book called Glittering Images by Susan Howatch. Written in 1987, this is a series of 'church books' that Howatch wrote about her own experiences of the Christianity journey. In Chapter Five, she quotes Herbert H. Henson as I've written above.

I used to have great respect for the military wives, especially the Navy's, who have to put up with long separations and short visits home. They have to switch gears from single parenting to joint parenting. They realize that their husbands can be wisked away at a moment's notice and possibly never come back. I still have that respect, for those on active duty who love those who are constantly in harm's way, and those, unfortunately, who have a somewhat blissful civilan life with weekend interuptions that are being torn apart as one or even both are sent to the war zones.

And there are those who I am developing a great respect for too....the minister's wife. The struggle is there and so clearly evident in the lives of any who are married to a pastor, minister, chaplain, or any lay person in the church who follows God's call.

I believe this is where the Proverbs 31 chapter comes into play, because too often those wives who cast their lots with their husbands find;

She is clothed with strength and honor,and she can laugh at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom,and loving instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the ways of her household,and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed,her husband also praises her:

"Many daughters have done valiantly,but you surpass them all!"

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting,but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised. Give her credit for what she has accomplished,and let her works praise her in the city gates. (Proverbs 31:25-31 NET.)

The wife of noble character....not only do they serve in the military alongside their husbands, in the dynamic of the family, but also in the success of the ministry to which their husbands have been called......

It is well that the husband remembers such noble character.....