-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- The Shekhina Methodists Worship 'God the Mother' http://watch.pair.com/shekhinah.html For links The appended post is a commentary on the latest rejection by the United Methodist Church of orthodox Christian doctrine and embrace of Theosophy or Ancient Wisdom. Prior to this departure from sound doctrine, the UMC Discipleship Resources published a Christian Initiation Series whose stated purpose is "designed to help United Methodist and other congregations guide individuals who seek initiation into the Christian faith through baptism." Rites of initiation often involve invocation of the hieros gamos, the divine feminine. This goddess is in reality the sacred prostitute which Cynthia and Robert Hicks borrowed from The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine for the Promise Keepers publication, Masculine Journey. It seems that the UMC has now included a prayer to "God the Mother" in its worship book for the Millennium. The feminist faction cites medieval mystic, Dame Julian of Norwich as justification for this concept of God. In The Trojan Horse, Samantha Smith and Brenda Scott mention Richard Foster's Devotional Classics regarding Dame Juliana: ... Juliana of Norwich showed him the depths of Divine Love ... of' a somewhat sensual and 'intimate' relationship with God." (p.129) The feminist concept of the divine feminine term "Shekhinah" and the related occult trinity of the Kabbalah is elucidated on the following Kabbalist web site. In Kabbalah, the term for Holy Spirit, Ruach, supposedly has a feminine gender and is "the Mother." Therefore, say the Kabbalists, "the Christian Trinity properly translated should be Father, Son and Mother." THE HIEROS GAMOS: THE JEWISH RESTORATION & SHEKHINAH Fulfilling the Torah of Moses in the Shekhinah and the Asherah Many Kabbalists conceive of God as embodying both male and female energies, which were divided during creation as part of the process of emanation. They speak of the shekhinah, which in traditional Judaism means the divine presence on earth, as the feminine aspect or mystical bride of God. And they often use language as a means to analyze such mysteries, as in this excerpt from a contemporary non-Jewish Kabbalist which offers an explanation for the mysterious use of the plural form for God early in the Bible: The Hebrew word used to denominate God in Genesis is Elohim. This word is a plural formed from the feminine singular ALH (Eloh) by adding IM to it. Since IM is the termination of the masculine plural, added to a feminine noun it makes ELOHIM a female potency united to a male principle, and thus capable of having an offspring. The same intended misconception is given in the Christian idea of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. In the Kabbalah the Deity manifests simultaneously as Mother and Father and thus begets the Son. We are told that the Holy Spirit is essentially masculine, but the Hebrew word used in the Scriptures to denote spirit is Ruach, a feminine noun. The Holy Spirit is really the Mother, and thus the Christian Trinity properly translated should be Father, Son and Mother. - Migne Gonzalez-Wippler, A Kabbalah for the Modern World The website of Hebrew scholar Eliezer Segal of the University of Calgary explains the function of the Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah as the pathway to divinity. The union of the Shekhinah with the upper sefirot consummates the marriage of male and female elements: The Shekhinah is a Talmudic concept representing God's dwelling and immanence in the created world... It is through the Shekhinah that humans can experience the Divine. The passivity of the Shekhinah is often emphasized (equated with its femininity), as the recipient of forces from the higher Sefirot... Human Imagery (Primordial Man)... The Shekhinah is often portrayed as a bride or princess whose male lover is the composite of the nine upper sefirot, represented by the prince/bridegroom Tiferet. The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalist Tree of Life are the attributes or emanations of God and also the path of initiation which unifies in the initiate the male and female attributes of Adam Kadmon, aka "God," to produce the Son. Evidence that the Hebrew Roots embraces the gnostic interpretation of Shekhinah may be found by comparing the Kabbalah with Avi ben Mordecai's promotion of the Sefirot: The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah: This Sefirah unites all the upper nine powers�.Tif'eret is the offspring of Hokhmah and Binah. It is often symbolized as a bridegroom or prince who strives to be united with the Shekhinah. Their union produces the human soul." Avi ben Mordecai: ...But, there is something more in the use of the word Grace in that it ties in powerfully with a teaching in Judaism called Torat HaSod which is describing an emanated attribute of G-d called Tiferet which is part of something else called the lower Seven Sefirot of Adam Kadmon. We include this information to show the direction in which the Church is moving by allowing the Hebrew Roots and other neo-kabbalist cults posing as Christian ministries to teach their adherents. Judaism vs. Kabbalism The Kabbalist website distinguishes between the traditional Jewish understanding of Shekhinah as the "divine presence" and the Kabbalah's divine feminine aspect of their god. Gershom Scholem, author of On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism was careful to make this distinction between the intended meaning of each: "In Talmudic literature and non-Kabbalistic Rabbinical Judaism, the Shekhinah---literally in-dwelling, namely of God in the world---is taken to mean simply God himself in His omnipresence and activity in the world and especially Israel. God's presence, what in the Bible is called His 'face,' is in Rabbinical usage His Shekhinah. Nowhere in the older literature is a distinction made between God himself and His Shekhinah; the Shekhinah is not a special hypostatis distinguished from God as a whole. It is very different in the usage of the Kabbalah, beginning with the Bahir, which already contains most of the essential Kabbalistic ideas on the subject. Here the Shekhinah becomes an aspect of God, a quasi-independent feminine element within Him. Such an independence, as we have seen above, is realized in a sense in the third sefirah, which is the upper mother or upper Shekhinah, but also, strange to say, the demiurgic potency." (p. 104-105, Schocken Books, 1965,1996.) Because there are distinguising characteristics between Torah Judaism and Kabbalism, we wish to state emphatically that the Watch Unto Prayer reports on the Hebrew Roots Movement are intended in no way to reflect on true Judaism based on Torah exclusive of occult extrapolations. Rather, our purpose is to examine the aberrant Jewish mysticism which apostate Jews of the Old Testament learned from ancient Babylon and passed on to future generations through oral and written traditions to the present day kabbalist sects, i.e., the Lubavitch, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, etc. It is our discovery and thesis that the gnostic stream of Kabbalism, not Torah Judaism, is the real "root" of the so-called Hebrew Roots Movement. This distinction between true Torah Judaism and Kabbalism is borne out in the writings of traditional Jews. Last year we posted to Watch Unto Prayer an outstanding resource for understanding the New Age Movement, written by Israeli journalist, Hannah Newman, for the many Jews who are uninformed on occult matters. Masters of the Blinding Light indicates that the mainstreaming of Kabbalah into Judaism is a relatively recent development: ...N[ew]A[ge] spokesmen applaud orthodox Jewish teachers for recently releasing Kabbalah from the restricted access imposed on it by past generations of Jewish sages, making its teachings available to all, and even encouraging free exploration without rabbinic supervision. In Israel the Zohar (a major Kabbalistic work) is even being sold door-to-door. [This is strictly forbidden under the 'old order' of Judaism...] (Section F) The Kabbalists seem to have been a fringe element of Judaism, with the exception of the great apostasies described in the Old Testament and what has been called the Golden Age of Jewry during the Renaissance, more properly termed the Golden Age of Kabbalism. There is presently an alliance between Freemasons and the Kabbalists which dates from the Middle Ages. The Knights Templar assimilated the Kabbalah during their occupation of the Holy Land after the first Crusade and then brought it to Europe. The study and practice of Kabbalah was especially widespread among the Jews and Moslems in Spain until their expulsion in 1492 whence it was further disseminated throughout Europe. Roman Catholic history reveals that Kabblists were feigning conversion to infiltrate the Church with the ambition of subverting the monarchies to which the Roman Church was allied. The movement was a criminal element threatening civilization with the ritual murder of Christians, and the Holy Roman Empire established the Inquisition to contain it. We happen to live near New York City in the midst of many wonderful Jewish people. Last year we hosted a dozen or so Jewish people in our home to hear Barry Chamish speak on the NWO in relation to Israel. For the most part, the Jews are decent people who seem unaware of this element of Judaism. But the Kabbalah is making a comeback. It is now being offered in public schools and Kabbalah Learning centers are springing up in every major city, especially New York. The rich and famous are becoming initiated into its mysteries and the First Lady and Pres. Clinton have boasted of their interest in it. There is an occult revival taking place across religious lines and Kabbalism is part of the occult underground that is surfacing and infiltrating Judaism, Catholicism and Christianity. Hinduism has entered the Church as the Laughing Revival and Kabbalism through the Hebrew Roots Movement. Churches and parachurch organizations like Promise Keepers subtly introduce Kabbalistic concepts through reading materials. The thesis of James Webb's two famous historical works is the ascendancy of the Occult Underground to the Occult Establishment in this century. MYSTERY BABYLON, the woman who rides the beast in Chapter 17 of the book of Revelation appears to be a reference to the goddess worship which will replace orthodox Christianity in the last days. The apostasy we are witnessing today is in essence a return to the mystery religion of ancient Babylon. Roman Catholicism vs. Freemasonry In his commentary below, Alan Morrison referenced a Catholic website which takes strong issue with the occult version of God as the divine feminine. He then challenges Protestant evangelicals to reconsider their opinions of a remnant within Catholicism that is exhibiting discernment regarding such deceptions. Although the Roman Catholic hierarchy is rapidly abandoning whatever vestiges of orthodoxy may remain, historically the RCC must at least be credited with contending for certain doctrines which were codified in the early ecumenical councils and for preserving at least a measure of orthodoxy throughout the Middle Ages. An overview of the heresies (Arian, Nestorian, Appollinarian, Monophysite, etc.) and creeds of the early Church councils is available and worth reading at Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils . As I have researched the history of Freemasonry and Kabbalism, I have been forced to reconsider the portrayal of Roman Catholicism as the Whore of Babylon, which is the thesis of books such as Alexander Hislop's Two Babylons and Dave Hunt's A Woman Rides the Beast. Research on the Inquisition revealed that the Roman Church allied with the monarchies of Europe was the only court of law at the time. It was established to deal with a criminal element that was threatening Western Civilization as a result of the influx of occult traditions from the Middle East during the Renaissance. This subversive element included the Kabbalists, Moslems and Knights Templars whose practices involved human sacrifice and conspiracy to infiltrate and overthrow legitimate government (as they are wont to do also today). For a balanced perspective of the Inquisition, I recommend an apologetic letter by Dr. David Goldstein, a Jew who converted to Catholicism. Whilst the Roman Catholic Church has admittedly been compromised with pagan observances, corruption, and suppression of the Bible, it is also unreasonable to narrowly define the Whore of Babylon as the Roman Church to the exclusion of the occult societies. As former Catholics, we do not have the faintest recollection of any practice within Catholicism of the black arts which characterize Kabbalism and its derivative, Freemasonry. At no time during the 20 years we were practicing Catholics were we aware of or encouraged to participate in any of the following abominations: initiation rites ritual human sacrifice phallic worship ritual sex secret membership rolls binding oaths to secrecy under penalty of death subversion and overthrow of divinely ordained governments The reason Kabbalists and Freemasons operate in secrecy is to conceal their criminal activities, which more nearly approximate the customs of ancient Babylon (for which God severely judged Israel) than do the traditions of the Roman Church. Surely, the worldwide cult of Freemasonry, whose operatives are strategically placed in the highest positions of government, who own the corporations, and now control the religions of the world, fits the description of Babylon in Revelation 18. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev. 18:3 While it is true that the Great Harlot sits upon the seven mountains of Rome (Rev. 17:9), there is abundant evidence that the Vatican has been infiltrated and is now under the firm control of the Freemasonic syndicate. This fact is documented by scholarly exposes of Popes John XXIII and John-Paul II published by the Roman Catholic traditionalist organization, Sodalitium. The Masonic takeover of the Vatican is also documented in David Yallop's expose of the 1978 murder of the current Pope's predecessor, Pope John Paul I by the P2 Lodge - In God's Name. Some of the more traditional Catholic publications, such as the March 1998 issue of RealCatholicism by Carey J. Winter, provide a most interesting history of the Masonic takeover of the Vatican. "The Catholic Church and Globalism" contains well-documented facts which are familiar to many Catholics, but unknown to most Protestants: The ultimate aim of the Freemasonic craft, according to Paul Fisher, is "the overthrow of all spiritual and political 'tyranny' so that there will be a universal social republic." (Behind the Lodge Door, p. 40). [Solange] Hertz maintains that this Revolution "was disseminated in Europe largely by Sephardic Jews acting through secret societies�" (Utopia, p. 64). Fisher cites James Billington�s observation that "so great, indeed, was the general impact of Freemasonry in the revolutionary era that some understanding of the Masonic Milieu seems an essential starting point for any serious inquiry into the occult roots of the revolutionary tradition (cited in Lodge Door, p. 218)..." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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