-5-
NEW
AGE BACKGROUNDS OF LOR CONCEPTS
New
Age heathenism is ancient Eastern mysticism (primarily Hinduism)
clothed in Western secular objectives, with words from both East and
West. LOR is New Age heathenism clothed in Adventist religious language
and objectives.
As
you will see below, the ideas and devices used by LOR to entrap and hold
Adventists are nothing more than regular New Age cult methods. For a few
moments, let us see what New Age gurus would tell us about various
aspect of LOR teaching and capture-and-keep strategy.
1-
LOR teaches that certain leaders are MASTERS which the others in the
commune must have to guide them aright. In New Age, these are the YOGI.
2-
Their special teachings for Adventists would be called their DHARMA,
or law, truth, or teaching. These are the essential truths of LOR, and,
according to the "law of dharma," must be obeyed by the
followers.
3-
The lower-level instructors in LOR are the equivalent of the GURU, who
instruct the disciples in the way of enlightenment. Their authority is
to be implicitly obeyed, but even they are secondary to the
"masters."
4-
The LOR teaching that the mind is to control the body, with health as a
result, is HOLISTIC (sometimes spelled "wholistic"). This is a
Hindu teaching that sickness and health is a choice of the mind and has
no relation to morality or healthful living.
5-Closely
related to HOLISM is the New Age SYNERGY, which, through group training
sessions, is the effort to produce "whole making," or the
putting together of natural systems into more integrated patterns.
6-
The LOR concept of innate perfection of mind and body, merely by
thinking it is so, is in New Age called SYNTROPY. This concept teaches
that living matter has an inherent drive to automatically perfect
itself, if given an opportunity.
7-
When LOR induces personality changes, it lays heavy emphasis on ALTERED
STATES, such as HYPNOTIC TRANCE in order to accomplish its purpose..
8-By
inducing hypnotic states in workers and members, who then carry them
out in letter writing to loved ones left behind, etc., recourse is made
to HYPNOSIS, which is a state resembling a deep sleep or
"trance," but is more active in that the person has some will
and feeling but acts according to suggestions given. A variation of
this, also used, is a semi-permanent hypnotic state, called a WALKING
TRANCE.
9-
An important LOR concept concerns what the Hindus call KARMA, or the
"law of justice." The accumulation of cause-effect actions in
this life determines the level of the follower's
next reincarnation.
10-When
LOR tells its followers at Life Supports seminars to close their eyes
and visualize something, they are using VISUALIZATION, which is the
imaginative seeing of a hoped for state-which they are then to
automatically have simply by mentally "seeing" it.
11-The
next step up from this is (1) CLAIRVOYANCE, which is mentally
"seeing" things at a distance by PSYCHIC means; (2) TELEPATHY,
which involves ESP ("extra-sensory perception" of another's
mental state or thoughts) and is the silent transfer of thoughts, or
communication at a distance; and (3) CLAIRAUDIENCE, which receives
voices from unknown sources.
12-
When Wayne chases the gophers out of his yard by commanding them to
leave, he is using PARANORMAL phenomena that are nonphysical in nature.
This is also called PSI, which itself also includes the ESP, TELEPATHY,
CLAIRVOYANCE, and several other patterns mentioned elsewhere. He is
able to predict the behavior of people and animals through DIVINATION,
which is composed of special Eastern methods known only to the
"masters." That power which enables Wayne to manipulate and
alter natural events in his garden is termed SORCERY by the Eastern
Cults. It requires a knowledge and use of MAGIC and performance of
MAGIC RITUAL in order to attain its objective. Another New Age term for
this is WITCHCRAFT, which is used by WITCHES (women magicians) and
WARLOCKS (male magicians). Wayne's gopher chase utilizes these
unusual "paranormal" powers, which must be accompanied by the
proper "rituals." This requires the study of BOOKS OF MAGIC.
13-
When a "master" can induce cause-effects beyond that of the
normal, such as inducing instant sanctification and divine sealing,
he is a SHAMAN or SPIRITUAL GUIDE, and is using "paranormal"
faculties, which only the "yogis" have.
14-
LOR rejects the need for Scripture as required sources of enlightenment
and instruction for their work. In order to have such a mature set of
Eastern teachings and mind control technics, LOR would instead use
AKASHIC RECORDS, which are the various guru books of Eastern lore. The
New Age considers theme to be the only true source of knowledge. They
call them a vast fountain of wisdom and omniscient knowledge.
15-Another
primary source for New Agers is ETHER, or UNIVERSAL MIND, which they
contact via hypnotic sessions
16-
These hypnotic sessions are basic to the successful operation of cults,
such as LOR, for through them CHANNELING occurs. This is the process of
receiving, through hypnotic states, knowledge from HIGHER POWERS
outside of humanity which communicates secret knowledge to it. These
" higher powers" include the ASCENDED MASTERS (dead
people) who now live on "the other side" of the physical
world. Another source is the HIGHER SELF, which is a mysterious wisdom
within oneself, which can be tapped for knowledge and power through a
CHANNELER or a "yogi." This "higher self'
is also called the OVERSOUL, the SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS, the ATMAN,
KRISHNA, BUDDHA, and GOD WITHIN.
17-
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS are brief flights into nothingness outside the body
for deeper experiences. This is also called ASTRAL and OBE ("out of
body experience"). This is done through event recalling, visualization,
hypnotic suggestion by the master, and various body contortions such as
putting one's head in his lap, or laying on the floor.
18
-A primary objective of LOR, as of all the Eastern cults, is to bring
the follower to the highest state of godenlightment, or SAMADHI (also
known as SATORI). This is a state of existential intuitive
enlightenment. Holding the head low and recalling previous cause-effect
events in one's life aids in inducing this "samadhi."
19-
Each cult will specialize in certain Eastern practices, while generally
using nearly all of them. Important among these are the TANTRAS, which
are special YOOA positions, and would include those mentioned above.
These "tantras" are designed to more swiftly bring
"enlightenment. "
20-"Yoga,"
itself is important to LOR goals, for it teaches three things: (1) a
state of mental vacuuity with a good feeling about it, (2) the loss of
self-identity, and (3) absorption of the will into the mind of the
SUPERIOR. LOR is doing a fairly good job in providing all three for
its disciples.
21-
The New Age sees value in using SYNCRETISM for a more rapid attainment
of its supernatural goals. This is a dipping into and combining of
Hinduism, Buddhism, Yogi, Tao, etc., and then using part of them all
(FUSION).
22-
New Age thinking is actually a blending of Eastern heathen religion with
HUMANISM, which is the concept that man is the measure of all things,
and whatever he wills, - he can do. LOR combines both in its teachings;
its master teachers have been doing their homework well. But it would
have been better if they had remained with the only pure font of truth
and wisdom, the Written Word of God. All else is foolishness.
23-
The resultant general theory developed out of all this research into
atheistic and heathen concepts and rituals is a WORLD VIEW or COSMIC
REALITY. The means of attaining it is through the TAO or UNIVERSAL
WAY, which through partial or deep hypnotic procedures is transferred
through "training sessions" from the masters or the spirits
to the disciples. This is done through METAPHYSICS, which is the
teaching of Eastern systems of TRANSCENDENT PRINCIPLES. One of the goals
of this is the attainment of MONISM, which is a single, unified
understanding of the universe.
24-
Masters stare at their disciples as well as others - not only to
induce "hypnotic states," but also to read their AURA. The
"aura" is supposed to be an envelope or field of colored
radiation surrounding the body, which only certain people can see. Reading
it tells the guru how far along a person is in THE WAY, or path to
deepest Eastern knowledge, for it defines his spiritual and
psychological condition.
25-
MYSTICISM, in the special sense, is finding god by emptying the mind and
submitting to the rules of a human superior. This required emptying
is important, for it has the effect of eliminating personal principles,
held beliefs, and standards from the frontal brain so that
spirit-control and the placement of Eastern error can more easily occur.
REALITY is attained through SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE, INTUITION, and
UNIFYING VISIONS. The eventual hoped-for result is NIRVANA, the
"slipping of the dewdrop of the soul into the sea of
infinity." This comes, in the ultimate sense, at the end of the
ceaseless cycles of reincarnation. This is the final reward of the
Eastern disciples and would be about the same thing as the Second Death
in Revelation 20: the soul is forever gone.
26-
Closely related to the Eastern cult view of cause-effect, is SYNCHRONICITY,
which is the study of meaningful coincidences earlier in one's life
which may or may not have a cause-effect relationship. The SECRET
MASTERS instruct their earthly gurus to provide the disciples with hours
of training in CAUSE-EFFECT RECALL and synchronicity. This keeps them
all preoccupied while their probationary times slips away into eternity.
27-Christians
believe in THEISM, which is the Bible concept of a personal Creator
God. But the New Agers, such as Wayne and David, believe that they and
everyone else are gods. This could only be true under the Eastern
concept known as PANTHEISM, which applies divinity to everyone and
everything in the universe.
COMPARING
CHRISTIANITY WITH THE NEW AGE
Now
that you have had an opportunity to look at the hodge-podge of Eastern
mysticism, transformed by New Age terminology into neopaganism, you
might wonder why anyone would want to wander off after LOR in the
exploration of such a wasteland of empty thinking.
The
lesson to be learned here is that the Lorites began by desiring that
which God had not revealed, and by doing that which He had forbidden. No
one is to confess his sins to an earthly priest, receive his absolution,
or yield the soul to his after-control. But the restless desire to
explore the forbidden will always bring ultimate grief and tragedy.
But
not only are the disciples of LOR doing it, but thousands of other
Westerners are doing the same at similar training sessions. The only
difference is in the labels, not in the concepts. That is what you are
learning in this section of this multi-tract study into the teachings
and methods of LOR.
There
are several approaches that the New Age uses in reaching people. Here
are four of them: (1) Channeling and direct contact with disembodied
spirits. (2) Psychic groups that use physical healing, mind reading, and
predictions of future events. (3) Old-fashioned Eastern religious
groups, that use only Eastern names and labels. (4) Western-style
self-help training groups for businessmen and business organizations.
LOR combines mystic data from all four, and initially presents itself
under an Adventist-label variation of number 4, but then moves on with
its captured disciples into numbers 2 and 1.
Another
problem is personality regression. It is known that one of the early
stages an infant goes through is an extremely close relationship with
its mother, in which she makes a large part of its decisions for it.
Analysts of New Age techniques say that the New Age objective is to
bring people back to this early level of infancy, in which they will
yield almost total control, through a human master, to their spirit
director.
As
with the Eastern religions, New Age bring seven special experiences to
people. In accepting these "gifts," the disciples accept
Satanic control of their minds:
(1)
A sense of acceptance by a powerful being, either a man or a spirit.
(2)
The promise of greater peace, happiness, and power, as well as daily
protection.
(3)
The concept of merger into another, more powerful personality.
(4)
Pictures, words, and directions that will come to the mind as a consequence
of following special rituals.
(5)
A denial of problems, sin, or anything negative. It isn't there because
we say it isn't. In other words, the demon promised a removal of
problems, and gives them by requiring denial that the problems exist!
(6)
A numbing of sensations, hypnotic trances, and lowering of mental
consciousness. This is done by meditation, hypnotic techniques,
repetitive chanting of a word or phrase, visualization exercises, and
repeating of Eastern scriptures,- especially the Mantras.
(7)
Uniting with god or becoming a separate one. This occurs simply be saying
it is so, or by the use of prescribed rituals.
Is
it easy to get out after having gotten in? Many later try to escape
from the spirit control they received from the New Age. The intense
mental-control sessions at LOR camp-meetings and advanced training
seminars have this in mind; overworked mind-control is done in order to
lessen the possibility of a later escape from the group. Frequently the
mind becomes so attuned, that it fears to leave lest it leave part of
itself behind.
What
has happened is that the person has, through the intense mind control
sessions, regressed from normal adulthood to that of a dependent
child. Some of the disciples will become directly psychotic as a result
of what their minds have undergone. They are then quietly thrown out by
the group. The only answer to life's problems - or to those caught in
the New Age - is Christianity. It alone has the TRUTH, the only truth,
regarding all the basic issues of life. Here are several basic
concepts taught by Christianity that are directly opposed to the
Eastern religions:
1-
The only God is the one described in the Inspired Scriptures (the Bible
and Spirit of Prophecy). Man is not God and will never be God. Man will
never share in four special attributes of God, which are His
sovereignty, omnipresence, omniscience, and self-existing eternality.
2-Man
is separate from plants and animals and will never be one of them
either.
3-As
a separate being, he is responsible for his actions - and he is responsible
for them directly to His Creator, the God of heaven and earth.
4-Man
was created in the image of God, but is capable of leaving Him and
choosing evil. For this reason, evil and sin are real and not imaginary.
5-Man
can experience various feelings of happiness or anxiety, but throughout
them his individuality and personality are not to be obliterated.
6-
That which we want we are to obtain through action, in accordance with
the requirements of God as given in His Written Word. Our desires are
not to be provided through wishes or Eastern concentration.
7-Man
must maintain relationships with others, in spite of problems. He is not
to run away and become a hermit.
8-
Idealization of people or objects is idolatry. Never is man to yield his
mind to another created being.
9-Conflict,
pain, struggle, problems, and disappointment are a natural part of life.
They are to cause us to flee to God for help, and in His strength deal
with them in a way that brings the ever-deepening growth of self-control
and obedience to God.
10-Man
has only one probationary life. There are not endless reincarnations
into this present world.
THREE
LEVELS OF BELIEFS
We
have noticed that there are several levels of belief in the LOA.
On
the FIRST LEVEL we find the inferences that are presented at the initial
meeting when their agents try to capture you. These views would run
something like this: "We are faithful Seventh-day Adventist
believers, holding to all the traditional, historic beliefs. The basis
for our faith is the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, and, as always, we
are tonight presenting what we believe from what is found in those
books. We have now discovered marvelous new light. If you will but
accept it tonight, you can, apart from anything that you do, have total
victory over sin. You will be sinless, and have a warmer, close fellowship
with other Christians than ever before. You will have sweet joy, peace,
and kindly love for all men."
On
the SECOND LEVEL we find the teachings that are presented to those that
have been captured. They go something like this: "We are god, and
you can maintain your victory only by total submission to us. Beware
of Bible-Spirit of Prophecy study, and avoid those that would quote
them to you. Stay away from Christians; they are dangerous. In fact, be
suspicious of everyone. You can only trust your leaders. By the way,
report to us on what the other LOA followers in the commune are
doing."
On
the THIRD LEVEL we find the innermost teachings of the top leaders of
LOR. We can know that these are their beliefs (1) because of the New Age
sources they are obtaining their ideas from, and (2) because only those
sources can unravel and make sense of the strange ideas and methods
they use on Levels One and Two. Not even the captured followers learn
this third level very quickly. Here it is:
"We
are all gods. All people are gods; animals too, and all inanimate
nature. We have never sinned and never shall - for there is no sin!
There are no sacred scriptures either. We are constantly perfect and
constantly progressing in it. We are naturally immortal and eternal.
We have had countless reincarnations, and shall have more for all eternity.
There is no heaven and no hell. There is no god above us and no devil
beneath us.
Hinduism
is the best representation of the true religion, and the New Age its
best Western expression. As gods, we can crush and kill and it matters
not. For there are no standards and no laws. We make our own. What we
think, we are. What we do is our reincarnated destiny. We are
everywhere and nowhere. We are nothing and everything. We have
everything and actually nothing at all. Past, present, and future may
or may not exist. There is only one thing to fear and oppose: The God
and Scriptures and people of Christianity. It is our work to confuse
and capture them, and desolate their families, and then we are doing
the work of our secret master, for you see, the deepest concept is the
truth; it is the reason we target our operations as we do. It is the
truth of the Fourth Level."
On
the FOURTH LEVEL we find what, in our opinion, is the real reason why
LOR is doing what they are doing - whether or not they realize it:
"We are guided by a master power that knows that, underneath all
the lies and subterfuge, Christianity, God, the Bible and Spirit of
Prophecy, and the Final Judgment against sin and sinners really are
genuine! THAT is why we are urged on to ridicule, oppose, and seek to destroy
them! If they were nothing we would ignore them entirely, for no one
fights against nothing."
The
mystery of the FIRST LEVEL is how these men dare claim to be sinless,
forgive the confessed sins of others, and offer them sinlessness for
eternity by yielding to them. The mystery is answered by the insight
of the second level: They believe themselves to be god. .
The
mystery of the SECOND LEVEL is how these men can be so non-Christian
in their conduct as they seek to capture Christians, destroy their families,
and threaten to slay those who might resist them. The mystery is answered
by the third level: They are not Christians, but Eastern New Agers.
The
mystery of the THIRD LEVEL is why they bother to focus their attention
on blotting historic Adventism from the minds of men, and desolating
their families, -when their own inner teachings are such a wasteland
of Hindu nothingness. The mystery is answered by the fourth level: In
our opinion, they are Satanists who have been taught by their master to
hate the remnant of the true church in these last days: the commandment
-keeping people of Revelation 12:17 and 14:12 that are on the other
side of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.
Without
doubt, we are very close to the end of time.
AS
WE GO TO PRESS
PRESENT
POSITION ON DIVORCE We have just received word that the top leadership
In Sandpoint Is backing off from their demand that all their members
Immediately file divorce suits. The members who have left their
husbands, wives, and children behind may be objecting too strenuously.
But
the possibility of extensive legal action over some of these matters
against LOR may have caused them to soften on this one position. It is
to the best Interests of LOR that it continue to remain as much
undercover and out-of-sight as possible. When LOR comes to a new
community of Adventists, It Is less likely to succeed if the local
Adventists have already been forewarned as to its teachings, methods of
operation, and mind and body control of captured Adventists.
LOR
ARRIVING INCOGNITO-We have also learned that there are at least two
splinter groups which have already split off of LOR that are also
beginning to tour around and capture Adventists. These groups have the
same basic beliefs as does LOR (sinlessness, I am god, the Holy Spirit
as the third Member of the Godhead does not exist, etc.). However, they
refuse submission to the leadership of LOR. They are doing the same work
and teaching the same things, but separate from LOR.
Again
we say, if anyone comes to you claiming to be without sin, or who offers
you immediate sinlessness, -flee from the meeting at once! Better yet,
do not attend private meetings conducted by individuals that you do
not know.
We
have also learned that, on two occasions recently, have been held in
meetings in local communities to which Adventists were invited to attend.
But In each of these instances, one Adventist had already been captured
elsewhere-and then invited local Advent believers to attend a group
meeting-without telling them that a LOR agent was to speak that night!
This thing is getting more dangerous all the time!
What
I say to one, l say to all: BEWARE!
THE
DEADLY HARVEST CONTINUES -
Hardly two days go by without those of us
here at Pilgrims Rest headquarters learning of another Instance in
which a someone has left family and children-or parents-and run off with
a LOR agent. Three days ago it was another Adventist wife and mother;
this morning it was the elderly mother of several faithful, married
Adventists.
FOR
FURTHER STUDY
A
TRACT BOOK ON LOR- We have many pages of additional documentation on
the LOR problem. This consists of letters, reports, personal
testimonies and experiences, and more besides. Instead of making this
present tract set too lengthy, we have held it to six tracts, and will
be offering the additional material in a tractbook that you can obtain
from us.
This
tract book will include the above materials, plus additional Spirit of
Prophecy quotations that we did not have space to Include. There will be
no essential duplication of the papers, but there will be of the Spirit
of Prophecy quotations. The tractbook will include all the quotations
found in this tract set, plus about twice again that many more quotations.
Even then we have by no means exhausted the subject, yet the quotations
will provide you with a springboard for further study on your own. And
do study! Study by yourself and study with your loved ones. Write your
friends and warn them and encourage them to study also. Studying God's
Word Is always profitable, as long as we let the Holy Spirit guide In
that study, and as we determine to obey that which we find. The danger
Is when we let others do our studying for us, for they may draw their
conclusions on the basis of unscriptural assumptions-which we do not
immediately perceive until we are caught In a webwork of error. Be
afraid of those who would demand that you accept their ideas merely on
their authority. God's Written Word must be the highest authority,
and those who refuse to let you make your own decisions privately on the
basis of Scripture are untrustworthy.
The
name of this special tractbook is THE TEACHINGS AND METHODS OF LOR. At
this time it has 76 pages, but many more pages are being sent to us that
we will include. We are thankful
that we can make it available to you. Each tractbook will also include a
complete set of these six tracts, and thus forms a complete whole that
can be shared with others.
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to LOR TOC
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