THE
SHEKHINA
THE
SHEKHINA:
METHODISTS WORSHIP "GOD THE MOTHER"
The appended post by Alan Morrison comments on the latest rejection by the United Methodist Church of orthodox Christian doctrine and embrace of theosophy or ancient wisdom. Prior to this, 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."
http://www.discipleshipresources.org/default.dll?
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 therefore "the Mother." Therefore, say the Kabbalists, "the Christian Trinity properly translated should be Father, Son and Mother."
THE HIEROS GAMOS: THE JEWISH RESTORATION & SHEKINAH
Fulfilling the Torah of Moses in the Shekhinah and the Asherah http://www.mat.auckland.ac.nz/~king/Preprints/book/hieros/hieros.html
"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:
http://acs6.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Sefirot/Shekhinah.html
"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:
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Sefirot/Tiferet.html
"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."
http://watch.pair.com/HRintitiation.html
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 Shekinah 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 recent 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 confirmed by 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:
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~jsu/newage1.html
Section F
"...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...]"
The Kabbalists seem to have been in the past 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 Roman Church with the objective of subverting the European monarchies with which the 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 Jews 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 being 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 Kabbalah is a foundational doctrine of an 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 such as those mentioned above. 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, Rev. Morrison referenced a Catholic website which takes strong issue with the gnostic version of God as the divine feminine. He then challenges Protestant evangelicals to reconsider their opinions of the remnant within Catholicism that is exhibiting considerable 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: http://www.seflin.org/anglican/ecumidx.htm
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 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 established as a court of law 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: http://www.catholic-dispatch.com/dg58.htm
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 ubiquitous, albeit secret, occult societies. As former Catholics, we have no recollection 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
- 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 throughout Revelation 18, starting with verse 2 and 3. "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 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."
We hasten to add that we deplore the false gospel of Catholicism, written into the Declarations of the Council of Trent and never repented of, that leads multitudes to put their faith in sacraments, saints, apparitions, priests and the papacy, which can never serve as mediators between God and men.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (I Tim. 2:5)
However, the Catholic Church may at least be credited with contending for and preserving throughout the history of Western Civilization the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. This against the onslaught of gnosticism which assaulted Christendom with various heresies, identified in the aforementioned Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. These heresies include the ancient Templar and present New Age notion that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, whose offspring presently exist in a divine Merovingian bloodline which will shortly rule the world from the throne of the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.
We have arrived at this opinion after extensive research on the doctrines, history and political aspirations of a network of operatives who can be identified with Kabbalism and Freemasonry. A good portion of our web site is devoted to exposure of this network and its infiltration of Church and government. For background information on this network, which has its origins in Babylon, please take time to read the following reports which represent hundreds of hours of research on the part of those who contribute to the Watch Unto Prayer ministry:
The Rosicrucian Connection: http://watch.pair.com/priory.html
The Masonic New World Order: http://watch.pair.com/mason.html
A Sacred Assembly: http://watch.pair.com/asa.html
To Embrace Hebrew Roots: http://watch.pair.com/HRintro.html
The Lubavitch Movement: http://watch.pair.com/law.html
Having stated our case, we now present the London Daily Telegraph article on the UMC and a commentary which introduces it, noting that between them is a subscription form for Rev. Morrison's very worthwhile e-mail newsletter.
METHODISTS TO WORSHIP "GOD THE MOTHER"
Dear Friends:
An article has appeared in the London Daily Telegraph today,18th Feb, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ ) with the title "Methodists to Worship 'God the Mother'", in reference to the introduction of the new Methodist Worship Book for the Millennium. (The full article appears at the very foot of this mail). In this worship book there is a prayer which reads:
"God our Father and our Mother,
we give you thanks and praise
for all that you have made,
for the stars in their splendour and the world in its wonder
and for the glorious gift of human life.
With the saints and angels in heaven,
we praise your holy name."
In defence of this prayer (and I quote from the Telegraph article), "Neil Dixon, the secretary of the Faith and Order Committee, said the prayer was not an attempt to change the gender of God. During a press conference in Welsey's Chapel in the City of London Mr Dixon said: "God is not a person. God is a spirit and is neither male nor female. He is beyond gender. The fact we have used male imagery for centuries has reinforced the image of God as a man. But if all human beings are created in God's image then feminine as well as masculine attributes must reflect God's nature."
Now this is a very clever but -- if I may say so -- devious argument. For a number of things are being confused here through false inferences. First, it is quite correct to say that God is spirit and therefore cannot possibly be either male or female. Second, it is also correct to say that feminine imagery is used metaphorically in Scripture to describe the character of God (as is correctly stated in the Telegraph article, e.g. Isa.66:13 and Psa.131; and one could also cite such texts as Matt.23:37).
But while the use of such imagery is perfectly orthodox, it is entirely wrong to then make the leap into actually directly addressing God as Mother in prayer. Do you see the two things which are being confused here? The fact that feminine imagery is used to denote the character of God does not give us leave to address God as a female person. I wrote about this in "The Serpent & the Cross" in the chapter on feminism. Here is what was said:
"The apostle Paul stresses the lack of any inferiority between Christian men and women in their standing in the kingdom of God, when he says: ‘There is neither male nor female: for you are all one on Christ Jesus’ (Gal.3:28). Thus, the Women’s Liberation Movement and Feminism are tragic anachronisms, because Jesus Christ has already done all the ‘liberating’ necessary for all those who will receive Him. It is only ‘in Christ Jesus’ that men and women can become ‘one’.
In this light, it is completely unnecessary for women to become embroiled in tortured debate about whether or not the Bible is offensive to them because of the constant references to God as ‘Father’ and ‘He’, or because the Redeemer of the world incarnated in a male body. Obviously we can have no truly complete conception of God, but we can certainly say that He is neither exclusively male nor exclusively female, since both men and women were originally made in His image. It is just as mistaken, also, to speak of God as being androgynous — i.e., both masculine and feminine — as some evangelicals do today, in line with their Jungian analysis of human psychology. The Lord transcends gender altogether, in spite of the fact that the Bible speaks of God with male pronouns.
But why do these male pronouns occur in the Bible? Is there not a good reason for this? The Scriptures could never refer to God as ‘It’, for that would remove the essentially personal nature of the Almighty. Men and women are not made in the image of an ‘It’! The use of specifically masculine pronouns most likely does occur for very special reasons. Professor Roger Nicole puts this issue into perspective when he shows that God had to be represented as a male in the Bible because "to do otherwise would have undoubtedly severely curtailed the understanding of his majesty; and the licentious developments in religions where female deities are found would manifest the appropriateness of avoiding this representation in O.T. times" (Walter A. Elwell, Ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker Book House, 1985, p. 1177).
It is no coincidence that the very people who are clamouring for the removal of male pronouns which refer to Deity in the Bible are those who are avidly worshipping the goddess today. There is nothing new under the sun. God’s wisdom in representing Himself as male can therefore be seen to be very astute. Furthermore, to take away the male pronouns in reference to Deity would be to do irreparable damage to the doctrine of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — upon which a true understanding of the Godhead of Scripture depends. Above all, we speak specifically of the ‘Father’ and the ‘Son’ because Jesus did (Jn.6:40; 10:36; 14:13). Even more to the point, we can wholeheartedly pray to God as Father because Jesus did (e.g., Jn.17:1). Only the most rebellious persons would dare to set themselves against the pattern laid down by the founder of the Christian faith. In truth, the whole Gospel message is offensive to the entire unregenerate human race, and no mere tampering with a few pronouns will remove that offence. The attempted detection of so-called ‘sexism’ in biblical literature is a vain and superfluous activity.">>> (from "The Serpent and the Cross", K & M Books, 1994/1999, pp.325-326).
The remarkable thing (and shameful too) is that, while Protestant denominations are helter-skelter abandoning the necessary doctrine of God as "Father", I have come across numerous excellent defences of this doctrine in Roman Catholic circles. You can find a superb example of this sort of apologetics at the following web address: http://catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/mar-apr96/feminist.html in an article entitled "Does the Bible Support the Feminist God/ess?" (Rabid anti-Catholics will be in for a shock here!). In the past few years, I have come across a number of Catholics who -- despite their blind spots on the Lord's Supper, the Papacy and Mary -- appear to be more aware of the deceptions of this age than many of today's wishy-washy Protestant evangelicals!
Anyway, you'll find the text of the Telegraph article at the very foot of this mail. Incidentally, this is no mere side-issue -- it is part of the vital ground on which the faith will be seen to stand or fall during the next decade. How would you respond if a so-called ET or alien (androgynous, of course) was to appear on earth claiming that it is really the God whom all have been worshipping under different names for millennia? What if such a being also claimed that it was the Messiah -- the second coming of which has been awaited by Christians for 2000 years? Do you think this is far-fetched? Friends, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Some very flakey global events are going to take place in the next few years. Such things are by no means impossible in the light of Scripture teaching on the Antichrist and the lying signs and wonders which will surround this mysterious event.
Understanding the nature of God, the Manhood of Christ and the need for Divine Fatherhood (and its derivative male leadership) in the face of a pagan world is most necessary as we come to the close of this present evil age. Who says that Christians don't need to get genned up on apologetics?!?
Yours, in the cause of God and truth,
ALAN MORRISON
