24AR29-01
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AR 29:1 - She left the New Age for Jesus
In this issue:
DIVERSITY - "white progressives have created a trap for themselves"
NEW AGE MOVEMENT - "I found my spirit guides and let them lead the course of my life"
SATANISM - "a violent, subversive amalgam of esoteric Hitler worship, Satanism and Wiccan tenets"
Apologia Report 29:1 (1,641)
January 4, 2024
DIVERSITY
"Immigration is religion's only hope: White progressives face a surprising alliance" by Sheluyang Peng (UnHerd, Sep 20 '23) -- "When my father was going through the process of becoming an Elder in the United Methodist Church, he was required to take courses on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. One course involved a presentation on how white people needed to make room for, and amplify the voices of, 'people of colour'. My father is an immigrant from China. He, like other immigrant preachers, was confused about who the term 'person of colour' referred to, and why a faith founded on the idea that there is 'neither Jew nor Greek' is so obsessed with racial divisions. ...
"The progressive ideology that in recent years has swept through mainstream American Protestantism is often impenetrable to those from non-Western countries. ...
"In America, the number of citizens identifying as Christians has fallen from 90% to 64% in the last 50 years, while immigrants are becoming more influential: more than two thirds of them are Christians.
"American progressives are increasingly stoking fears of an incipient 'white Christian nationalism' bringing about a Cromwellian theocracy. But white Americans have actually been secularising at a slightly faster rate than other ethnicities. While black Americans have also experienced secularisation, they are still more likely to go to church and pray than the average American. And African immigrants to the US are more religious than American-born black people. The rise of Latino evangelicals in America has also been receiving mainstream coverage.
"'Conservative Christians', the bogeyman for white progressives, are therefore increasingly likely to be people of colour - the very people whose voices progressives apparently want to amplify. Christians of African origin are far more likely to hold conservative views on sexuality, while Latino evangelicals are quickly becoming a Republican bloc."
Peng points out that "non-Western immigrants are more likely to be socially conservative than American-born citizens, or perhaps because their economic or tribal instincts trump their religious ones. ...
"Earlier this year, the Church of England floated the idea of using gender-neutral pronouns for God, and allowed prayers of blessing for gay couples. The backlash was swift. Many bishops in Africa and Asia rejected the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury - and criticised the Anglican church's (largely white) leadership. But even within the UK, there was fierce opposition to progressive Christianity from ethnic minorities, who are keeping Britain's Christian population from declining."
Similarly, "in American Judaism. Orthodox Jews, who take their faith seriously, and mostly vote Republican, are currently in the minority, but they are estimated to grow to become the dominant branch of American Judaism by 2050. ... Christianity, too, looks set to depend on the most orthodox sustaining the faith. ...
"[T]hough liberalism paved the way for immigration and multiculturalism, immigration and multiculturalism actually weaken liberalism; though Christianity paved the way for liberalism, Christianity could prove liberalism's downfall. ...
"While most black people vote for the same party as white liberals, 37% of black Democrats say their religious views influence how they think about transgender topics, compared to only 11% of white Democrats. While 66% of black Democrats say a person's gender is their sex determined at birth, only 27% of white Democrats say the same. ... A common refrain is that Islam is incompatible with Western civilisation. And yet, some conservative Christians find themselves allied with Muslims against what they both see as America's decadent hyper-individualistic secular culture. ... To progressives, a 'bigot' is a stereotypical white Christian conservative; to see non-white Muslim families standing beside them in droves caught many off guard. An all-Muslim city council in Michigan was once held up by liberals as a symbol of diversity, until it voted earlier this year to ban Pride flags being flown on city property, to the delight of many social conservatives. Slate has gone so far as to call Muslim voters 'the new Republicans' - an unexpected twist after two decades of Republican fear-mongering against Islam. ...
"White progressives, with their absolute devotion to immigration, have inadvertently championed immigrants from cultures that outrightly reject progressivism. With their just-as-absolute devotion to multiculturalism, those same white progressives have created a trap for themselves where they are unable to criticise a non-white person's culture, values or beliefs - even when they actively go against sacred progressive views on gender and sexuality." <www.tinyurl.com/4j4pyj75>
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NEW AGE MOVEMENT
"I Left New Age for Jesus" by Jordan Taylor (The Gospel Coalition, Oct 3 '23) -- "For more than 10 years, I was entrenched in mysticism and self-discovery.
"I practiced witchcraft and performed spells. I became an oracle-card reader and enrolled in classes to sharpen my psychic abilities. I was a certified Reiki master and yoga teacher. I used crystals as a means of healing, protecting, and manifesting. I believed in astrology, manifesting under a new moon and cleansing and recharging my energy under the full moon. I worshiped nature and worked with goddesses. I found my spirit guides and let them lead the course of my life. I'd talk to 'Spirit/Source/Universe' and believed I was speaking to my 'higher self.' I believed I created my own reality and I was my own god, in control of my life. I thought I finally knew my purpose - to heal the collective, raise the vibration of the planet, and help others heal and do the same. ...
"While believing all this, I was suffering and in a deep pit of depression. I longed to feel loved, heard, and understood. My soul lacked a sense of belonging. My body was in a constant state of fight or flight. ...
"I was wrong about all of it. What I was actually doing was laying down a welcome mat for darkness and deception - and all that comes with it. The very practices I believed protected me and connected me to something divine were only pushing me further into darkness, further away from God.
"I was oddly allergic to the G-word (God) during my time in the New Age. I almost unfriended a New Age colleague who'd recently come to Christ because she couldn't stop talking about him. I was irritated by it. Angry. Repelled. I thought, What happened to her? Has she gone mad? I couldn't wrap my head around her drastic transformation to Christianity.
"I remember a vital moment in my resistance when I reluctantly watched a movie about Jesus to appease my then-boyfriend. My exact words: 'Fine, I'll watch it once if you stop asking me.'
"That's when I first experienced God's grace, when he met me in my stubbornness. He met me in my sin and depression. I watched the movie about Jesus and sobbed hysterically. I was overcome by an intense feeling of love that poured over my entire being. Growing up in a broken home and being trapped in a cycle of toxic relationships as an adult, I'd never really felt love before. I knew this was the kind of love I was desperately seeking in all the wrong ways. That's when I knew God was after my heart.
"I tried to deny and ignore that experience, but I also wanted to feel that love again. So I chased after Jesus. I started reading the Bible. I'd never done that before, and God's character was revealed to me. I prayed - a lot. I was resistant to attending church, but eventually, I bounced around to a few until I found a biblically sound church I loved." <www.tinyurl.com/bdexnycv>
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SATANISM
When to/not-to feature Satanism content? There is always a lot more content out there than we can track regarding all ongoing Apologia Report topics, especially the more sensational. With some we give you a peek once in a while, just as a reminder. Case in point, consider "Arrest for gun possession led the FBI to a global Satanic cult" by Ali Winston (Guardian, Sep 28 '23) -- "A 23-year-old was arrested for gun possession. It led the FBI to a global Satanic cult. ...
"Angel Almeida's alarming social media posts led authorities to 764, a group that abuses minors and circulates violent videos. ...
"Members 'use threats, blackmail and manipulation' to get youth to record videos showing acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexual acts and even suicide, the authorities warn. The footage is then circulated among members to extort victims further and exert control over them. In the group's channels, members share violent 'gore' videos depicting torture, lethal violence and other such acts, in an effort to desensitize viewers to acts of ultra violence. ...
"Documents and sources familiar with 764 indicate the group is an offshoot of the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), a violent, subversive amalgam of esoteric Hitler worship, Satanism and Wiccan tenets that American authorities recognize as a terrorist ideology and that has been connected with murders and attempted terrorist attacks in countries including the US, Britain, Germany, Canada and Russia. ...
"While searching Almeida's apartment in New York, investigators recovered [among other incriminating items] an O9A 'blood covenant' featuring a blood-smeared drawing of a hooded figure with glowing red eyes surrounded with sigils for four O9A deities and the caption Vindex, Nythra, Satan and Abatu. At the bottom of the page is an oath: 'A covenant signed in blood. May the DEVIL walk with you always - SATANAE MANIBUS' ('by Satan's Hand' in Latin). Similar indicia have been found in possession of O9A-influenced killers in Britain and Canada. ...
"Almeida was deemed fit for trial earlier this month, despite repeated violent behavior in the courtroom, including attempts to attack a justice department staffer in the audience and his own court-appointed counsel on separate occasions...." <www.tinyurl.com/m5yxenc>
Wondering whether "it's all just a conspiracy theory"? Check out this September 29 report by the Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism: <www.tinyurl.com/yurabww6>
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