Jesus Christ Blog

Fern Holm




Barack Obama: following the Jesus-only trend?

If it doesn’t really matter whom we worship,

or address our prayers, or thank (as the Source) within the Trinity… then why not just worship Jesus, just pray to Jesus, as Barack Obama professed on national television recently:

“I’ve been in the same church for 20 years, prayin’ to Jesus.”

- and just thank Jesus? That was a question on a new game show the other night:

“How many of the audience polled said that if they won an award, they would publicly thank Jesus?”

It was a very high percentage.

—————————–

I see a progression in thought which has lead any Christians to a popular belief that Jesus, alone, is their God (a contemporary version of the old heresy of Modalism, where One person fulfills all 3 offices or ‘modes’ of the Trinity). Followers of this belief perceive that when they pray to the Father, they are in reality praying to Jesus in His capacity as ‘Father’, and they also see the ‘Holy Spirit’ as the spirit of Jesus – Therefore Jesus IS the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do have churches [some would say cults] which openly claim this as their belief system, such as the UPC (United Pentecostal Church), but my concern is that mainstream Christianity has also absorbed this theology to a large extent – without even being cognizant of the change, because it happens in such a subtle way. These churches would never SAY that they believe in anything but the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, but their actions speak otherwise.

Before I share the tangible evidence I’ve gathered, I’d like to encourage you to ask your colleagues and friends to watch for these things with you – especially if they attend different types of churches.

The non-denominational/charismatic/”community” churches seem to be the most obvious in their prayers to Jesus in Jesus’ name, worship songs that acknowledge Jesus as their God, etc., but, as you’ll see in the quotes given below, traditional denominations are ‘morphing’ into Jesus-Only churches as well.

1) There is evidence that contemporary worship music now used in mainline churches has Jesus-only connotations:

Quote: Updated July 12, 2006 (first published May 30, 1997) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns.wayoflife.org;

“It is a strange but true fact that many Bible-believing churches that are strongly opposed to charismatic DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE are being influenced by charismatic MUSIC… THE “JAZZED-UP HYMNS” HAVE GONE MAINSTREAM and have swept throughout much of the Christian world… Many of the most popular “praise songs” today were composed by men and women involved with the Oneness Pentecostal movement, which denies the Trinity and which baptizes only in the name of Jesus. A recent article in Charisma magazine (June 1997) noted that “most popular praise anthems sung in charismatic and evangelical churches today were composed by Oneness believers.”

3) Examples of Jesus-only worship songs, used widely among denominational and non-denominational churches:

“Here I Am to Worship”:

Light of the World

You stepped down into darkness (refers specifically to Jesus)

Open my eyes

Let me see

Beauty that made

This heart adore You

Hope of a life

Spent with You

Chorus:

Here I am to worship

Here I am to bow down

Here I am to say that YOU’RE my God (refers again just to Jesus)

You’re altogether lovely

Altogether worthy

Altogether wonderful to me

King of all days Oh, so highly exalted

Glorious in Heaven above

Humbly You came

To the earth YOU created (Jesus is our Creator)

All for love’s sake became poor.

Another song: “And I surrender to your ways”

“It’s all about you, Jesus.

And all this is for you.

For your glory and your fame.

It’s not about me, as if you should do things my way.

YOU ALONE ARE GOD, and I surrender to your ways. ”

– PASSION

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (disc 1)

FURTHER EVIDENCE:

4) Some of the highway billboards, especially in the Bible Belt, provide another compelling visual sign of the Jesus-Only trend. The slanted theology, hidden in their towering slogans, can have a subtle effect on one’s thinking, similar to absorbing subliminal messages or slowly being brainwashed. I’ve asked my son, who is an over-the-road truck driver, to take pictures of them as he travels around the U.S.! The effect is multiplied by bumper stickers, T shirts and other message-bearers that mobilize the movement toward Jesus-only religion. Aside from its unChristlike sentiments, think about the subtle inference contained on this T-shirt logo: “My Jesus can beat up your Allah”. My GOD can beat up your God, correct?

5) Ironically, much of the programming on TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network) has a Jesus-only slant, which again provides a subtle influence, as do a number of the TBN-produced movies, such as “The Apostle Paul”, which is based on the book of Acts but identifies Jesus as “our Lord and our God” and shows a young woman fervently praying to Jesus in His own name. Please note the TBN “prayer of salvation” quoted in the excerpt from my book that follows – definitely Jesus-only!

6) A movie produced by a BAPTIST (mainline) church focuses on “Jesus only” Christianity, as noted by the MPAA:

Facing the Giants

Rated PG for some thematic elements.

reviewed by Christopher Lyon

“It’s almost unbelievable. A Baptist church in Georgia makes a feature-length Christian movie for the tiny amount of $100,000 and that film ends up getting released in nearly 500 theaters around the country… You might have heard about some of the controversy over the film’s PG rating. Apparently, the MPAA originally suggested that the rating had to do with the film’s focus on “Jesus only” Christianity.”

7) EVIDENCE that LINES ARE BEING BLURRED and the CHRISTIAN CULTURE AT LARGE may be unable to discern that a new theology is taking root:

America’s ‘Most Influential Black Spiritual Leaders’:

Published February 15th, 2007 by Editor in General News, Christian Research Net : *Oneness Pentecostal*and Word Faith teacher T.D. Jakes tops the list according to this report from the Christian Post. The report also notes that “Jakes was also named last year’s most influential Christian by The Church Report.”

Of the TOP 50 most influential Christians in 2006, 17 of them are regulars on TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network):

Coffee Talk #77

November 21, 2002

By Rick Walston, Ph.D. CES.ColumbiaSeminary.edu

TV Pentecostals: “Next, what are those TV Pentecostals? We’ve all seen them. In my humble estimation, so-called Christian television is one of the biggest culprits of “Pentecostal homogenization” in the minds of people. On TBN, all of the camps mentioned above are often represented. They even have Oneness Pentecostals on their programing! More than a few people have mentioned the irony of a TV program called “Trinity Broadcasting Network” having modalistic, Oneness Pentecostals on their programs.”

RELEVENT EXCERPT from PIVOT POINT, a creative nonfiction by Fern Holm

“Possibly paving the way for a movement toward Jesus-only, Jesus-is-our-God religion, the evangelistic church at large has preached a gospel that has at least the potential to lead people to Christ alone. Some samples of the gospel message and the recommended prayer of salvation, publicly displayed on the website of each of these organizations, are quoted below.

AFLC: Association of Free Lutheran Congregations: To receive Christ as Lord and Savior right now, you might pray a prayer like this:

“Lord Jesus, I come to You a lost and lonely sinner. I confess that only You can take away the burden of my sins. I believe You died on the cross for all my sins. Come into my life right now. Forgive all my sins. I surrender my life to You and want to receive You as Lord of my life. Please give me the assurance of the Holy Spirit that I belong to You. Amen.”

SBC: Southern Baptist Convention: “Salvation”

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.

Salvation Army:

“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

BGEA: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

TBN: Trinity Broadcast Network:

Prayer of Salvation: “Dear Jesus, I believe in You. I believe You are the Son of God, that You died for my sins, and that You were buried and rose again as written in the Bible. I’m sorry for the things I’ve done that hurt You. Forgive me for all my sins. Come into my heart, take charge of my life and make me the way You want me to be. With Your ever present help, I renounce all my sinful practices of the past. Cleanse my heart with Your precious blood. Write my name in Your Book of Life. I confess You now as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Jesus! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Although it is certainly true that faith in Jesus is the only way we can be reconciled to God (“No one comes to the Father but by Me”), shouldn’t there at least be some mention here of the One to whom we are reconciled? Can you see the total focus on Jesus in each one, even praying to Jesus in Jesus’ name? Something is definitely missing in this circular prayer that seems to fold in upon itself. Jesus is “the Way”—not the Destination. An arrow, not a circle. There’s a mystery here, one that’s begging to be solved. Something is missing, but what is it?”

– Excerpt from PIVOT POINT

*** In conclusion, when people make a conscious choice about their beliefs it’s one thing, but the evidence presented here exposes a subtle external influence that appears to be ever-so-slowly turning Christianity … in a direction it never planned to take.

Heidi Ball




Beginning in Great Britain in the 1700′s, Evangelicalism, which is a Protestant Christian movement, followers have the belief that they must be “born again”. It’s about personal conversion and focuses on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Being “born again” means rebirth. It is a spiritual birth by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When we are first born, which everyone experiences, that is the birth of the flesh. To be spiritually reborn, one would accept Christ and therefore be able to go to heaven once life on this earth is complete.

The term “evangelical” is used by a number of different break offs mostly stemming from the Roman Catholic Church. The word itself comes from the Greek word for “Gospel” or “good news”. People who follow and evangelical faith have life principles founded on the New Testament and therefore are Christian.

Often times the Evangelical religion is classified as the middle ground religion between theological liberalism and Fundamentalist Christianity. This classification comes from the view that liberal parties seem to concede to the values of the world yet their fellow Fundamentalists have lost the Christ-like heart.

For those evangelicals in North America, their social views tend to be very conservative. We can see this especially in the aspects of marriage being defined between one man and one woman and also their views against abortion. Evangelicals oppose same *** marriage and tend to oppose laws that would permit abortion.

The influences from evangelicals during election times are great. There is always a large appeal of the Christian right in red states and there seems to be huge success when it comes to appealing to certain social agendas. It is believed that Christianity should have a place among public life since the Untied States was founded on principles surrounding religious freedom. This however doesn’t mean that all evangelicals lean towards the more conservative side when it comes to politics. There are members on both sides.

Doug Chamley




I spent a good number of years debating the issues of what religion was and what Christianity was. After several years of debating I found that my interest in a religious life was not what I believed God wanted from his creation. I came to believe that God wanted a relationship with his creation and religion was only a way for man to artificially represent himself as an acceptable unit of creation to the Creator himself. It was not a relationship. Why?

Religion is a form of rules and rituals with the thought of pleasing or appeasing an unapproachable god and in some way through acts or actions earning his favor. Religion believes that “the best you can do is good enough.” Religion can’t seem to believe in a sovereign God who has already done all that is needed for the individual to be reconciled to Himself. He has provided the power to meet the demands of His loving ways and blueprints for life that He guarantees will produce the fruits of righteousness, love, joy and peace.

Christianity is not a religion, it is a way of life. Christianity is not a set of rules to obey, it is a relationship to be nourished with a real and living person. The very name identifies its followers as “Christ’s Ones.”

The true followers of Jesus have not just joined a church, they have made a thoughtful, conscious, life-changing decision to give up their normal, selfish life for the life of a slave, a servant of the most-high God. They have chosen, by faith to be children of God rather than to remain children of the world and the devil. Many have forsaken their earthly family to join the family of God. The true believer has experienced the pangs of worldliness and has felt the hot breath of the enemy on his neck. He has run for refuge into the arms of the One who has overcome those dangers.

The true believer has been captured by divine love only to be freed from worldly passion. He has been transferred from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

True Christians are not better than others, they are just as much in need of being forgiven. The true Christian doesn’t gloat over his victories, he groans for those he has left behind. The true Christian is ever mindful of his past estate, and gloriously thankful for his present condition, often willing to express his gratitude to anyone at any time.

True Christians are motivated by the love of God and energized by the power of His Spirit. They would never consciously do anything to bring disrespect to the name of God, but rather seek to glorify Him in all their endeavors. They tend to live out their faith in every aspect of their lives, every day and towards everyone.

The true Christian lives by FAITH, trusting implicitly in the written word of God and continually seeks wisdom for discerning truth from error. The true Christian’s HOPE is not in his ability, his talents, or his resources, but in the exacting promises of a trustworthy God. Ever mindful of God’s unconditional LOVE, the truly redeemed one still strives to please Him in all that he does.

If you are mad at God or disappointed in your past church experience, perhaps it was because you weren’t exposed to true Christianity, but to a counterfeit “churchianity” which is prevailing in the modern world today. I would urge you to give God another chance with your life. Cast your past, your present and your future onto Him who is willing and “able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy!” If you do, one day you will joyfully shout with the redeemed of all ages, ” Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

John Parks




Can you still remember all of the words to the Pledge of Allegiance? Most of us recited the pledge every single school day from Kindergarten all the way through the sixth grade. Some junior high and high schools also required a daily flag salute and the recitation. This being the case, can you remember all of the words? Can you still rattle it off without thinking like most of us could do by the middle of our kindergarten year?

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” Hey! I can do it!

It’s funny how those two little worlds “under God” have caused such a ruckus. Many people insist that our country was founded on the idea of the freedom of religion. Others insist that forcing children to recite the words “under god” is forcing a single religion down school children’s throats-a religion that might not be taught or encouraged at home.

A few years ago a Congressperson caused quite a stir when he recited the entire pledge-without the words “under God.” Suddenly people were screaming that he wasn’t patriotic at all.

What do you think? Do you think that religion should play a part in our politics, or should the two be kept completely separate? Would it surprise you to learn that the original pledge did not contain religion at all? It was added in the 1950s as homage to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The Washington Post’s website has published an article that claims it is time to take the phrase back out of the pledge.

When the phrase was added to the pledge, the primary religion in the United States was one of the Protestant Sects and only five percent of the population did not claim any single religion. Today the United States has a much larger variety of religions within its borders. Today, there are people who claim Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, Muslim and Wicca (among a few others) as well as those who claim traditional Christian and Jewish sects as their religions.

The Washington post agues that “under god” and religion be stricken from the pledge because the greatest threat to the United States is not those who are “godless” but those who are “fundamentalist” in their religion-willing to harm or kill anyone who does not subscribe to their exact belief system. The Post argues that our beliefs about religion are not what set us apart from other nations, but that our tolerance of each religion is what makes us unique.

What do you think about the topic? Do you think that the pledge should acknowledge religion and, if so, how should that acknowledgment of religion happen? Not everyone is of a monotheistic faith. How do you incorporate each religion without the pledge taking five or six hours to recite?

Hans VanKrieken




Religion is a curse forced on mankind by control-freak criminals.

Man has no real use for religion. It is not a tool for peace but a tool used by the worst kind of mind criminals to subdue, exploit and control masses of people. Through the ages religion has brought about separation- -not communion and love; war- -not peace; forced servility- -not liberty. Religion caused alienation, separation and persecution of classes and races of people.

Religion separates members of the same family, neighbors, people from the same town, people of different towns, regions and nations.

Religion has caused the most brutal kind of persecutions, murder of individuals and masses of people, torture, cruel ostracization, individual and mass hatred, and generally extreme unhappiness. You name anything bad; religion has been found guilty of it.

Religions, like all other sorts of ideology, are related in scheme and execution.

God hates religion and religious expressions. These buy god nothing; and it buys religious people nothing. Religious expressions are expressions of ignorant cowardly people. It expresses itself through cowardice and fear. God wants honesty and courage- -not feigned obedience and true revelation of one’s inner self. God wants to restore communion, but this restoration of communion must come from soul and not from god.

Other kinds of religion, but never recognized as such, are adoration of government, adoration and subjection to constitutions, institutions and the corporate structure, racial and specie identification, and last but not least, the love of money. All these categories show criminal inclination through mass-controlled and invoked malevolent expressions.

Religion is really non-communication between people and god. The god of the universe does not recognize anyone in love but as mere slaves. He is the one who captured us. He may be responsible for our physical forms and operation but he did not create our souls. He just uses our souls.

Even the god of all true spirit cannot recognize us because we are out of communion with him through the belief in a lie about him. As long as souls/humans continue to believe that they can have communion with the true god while holding a lie about him in their hearts this god does not even know you.

The entire universe, every creature and all relationships in the universe are based on lies believed. The universe is fiction and it constitutes a spiritual, virtual mental dream. This is so because all we know, believe and accept as truth is based on deceitful spiritual and physical sorts of propaganda. In truth lies cannot exist and liars cannot be rewarded. In the physical realm the only thing that brings reward are clever schemes of lies perpetrated on others.

There is no truth in the physical realm. If the physical realm cannot contain truth it must be fiction. In fiction any type of lower forms of fictions are permitted and truth must be shut out. If truth would not be cleverly shut out the fictional universe would disappear.

As long as you do not agree or understand this fact you remain a non-entity to god. This is not due to any ideas or actions of god but due to beliefs held in soul and in our human hearts that are untrue.

We may claim that our hearts are pure but your spiritual and physical indoctrinations make you willing slaves to the enemies of the true god and yourself. The true God only recognizes free spirits and free thoughts. Thoughts induced or modified by religion, government, ideologies and in spirit make you your own worst enemy.

Your purpose on earth is to recognize that you fear the true god because you come before him with unclean hands and minds. Once you know you are spiritually unclean you can repent in spirit. Repentance and baptism in the sense of human understanding (according to John the Baptist’s standard) is a spiritually useless action. Not the human creature but the soul must repent.

All the true God wants is for you to recognize the liar in spirit (the generally recognized Great Spirit or god of the universe is that spiritual liar) and the lie he told your soul that you believed; and to, then, repent of these and make amends. Standing before the true god in that fashion can have no other outcome but to be enfolded in his love and perpetual truth because then you are a true son of the true god.

This does not take one iota of religiousness or togetherness. It takes purely, individual courage, spiritual humility and repentance. Once all these things have been accomplished you cannot find any greater friends than in this true god and this false god; because behind the scenes they work together (like man and wife) to create new sons of god.

One of the criteria to be a son of god is that you recognize lies and desist from believing lies. Religion is utterly devoid in accomplishing this because it feeds you lies and makes you comfortable in holding these false believe systems in your heart.

To be seen by the true god you must stand alone (you cannot rely on anyone) and you cannot be influenced by anyone. Interference form any physical quarter in trying to find your self back in spirit will only cause you to be deceived more.

Once you understand your spiritual crime (not a physical sin or crime) you know that you have only one master, teacher, friend and loving god and he will embrace you always. He is in true spirit and does not exist, know or control the universe.

The ultimate god is real because no one can make that god a liar. What he says is truth. If you differ with him on anything you are kicked out of reality by your own wrong belief. You have made yourself unreal because you made the true god a liar in your heart.

Your false god can be any religiously recognized god, an ideology, a certain kind of government (like democracy or communism), racial superiority, anything you hold in your heart to be more important and valuable than the love in truth of the true god. He is false because you can make him to be anything you believe. You can only know the true god. How can you know him? By recognizing him from before you believed him to be a liar.

So, you are either utterly alone in courage or utter together with the other cowardly outcasts from reality by expressing a sense of physical self-worth and importance to the physical universe.

You can see that all graduates of higher learning are barred from repenting and from the spirit of truth. These people have tied themselves (status-wise and financially) too much to physical believe systems. They falsely believe that their learning gives them rewards in hell while they continue to remain enemies of the god of true reality. They like fiction better than truth because they are too strongly tied to their own physical nature and the physical environment.

Jim Driscoll




Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with God? Not just talk to him but actually dialogue with him and hear his response to your questions? Below are some hands-on, practical steps that will help you do that.

In John 10:4, Jesus said that his sheep know his voice. He didn’t mean that in a figurative sense. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have already recognized his voice at least once, and every person needs to practice listening to him in order to identify his voice at deeper and more personal levels.

Step One

Sit down with a notebook and a pen, ask God to speak to you, and then write down everything that comes to mind — what you sense he might be telling you, even if it seems strange at the time. When you read over it later, you’ll be able to tell what was God and what wasn’t (just as John 10:4 says), and you’ll be amazed at everything that was.

Step Two

Be willing to hear things you weren’t expecting. If you do Step One and don’t hear or sense anything, it may be that you’re expecting to hear something in particular, and God wants to talk about something else. He might speak to you about something you have never thought of before.

Be open to anything he might say. It may take some time for you to learn to tell the difference between his voice and your own thoughts, but again, Jesus said that his sheep know his voice. He also said that if you ask for something good, he won’t give you something evil in return (Matthew 7:10-11). In other words, if you have a desire to speak with him, he will respond in kind.

Step Three

Realize that God can speak through anything: something that stands out to you as you’re reading the newspaper or while writing your blog, talking with your daughter, sitting at your desk.

God is more interested in you than you are in him. (This is repeated several times throughout Scripture — for example, John 3:16 and 1 John 4:19). Simply put, because that’s true, you should expect to hear from him.

Gregory Vanden Berge




Most people who believe in a certain religion, won’t actually say that their religion is better than yours, however, there’s not a doubt in my mind that at one point in their life, they actually thought it.

Just the actual thought of somebody thinking that their religion is better than yours, probably separates them from their own religious beliefs. I can’t think of one religion that doesn’t imply that their religion is the only way to salvation or to the promised land.

Once this thought becomes dominant in your mind, and you actually believe that your religion truly is better than all others and it is the only way to salvation or to the promised land, you’re probably in too deep. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this simple statement or been able to read it on someone else’s face like a glaring red beacon flashing over an airport.

If you don’t believe that some people think that their religion is better than others, I would like to challenge you to put it to a test. Simply ask someone if they are thinking about switching over to a different religion.

You’re rarely going to hear someone tell you that they are, you’re probably going to see a puzzled look on their face, providing you with the answer, without even opening up their mouths. There’s a good chance that these people will tell you,” No, they have never even thought about joining another religion.” The problem is, they’ve probably never even spent the time to think about whether their religion is right or wrong.

I can’t tell you how many people, that I meet on a regular basis, believe that their religious views are right and all others are now wrong. I can however tell you, that most of these people haven’t took the time to study the origins of their beliefs thoroughly.

How can you judge another religion, when you don’t really understand your own? If you have studied early Christianity, like I have, there’s a good chance that you won’t ever again go around telling someone or even thinking it silently to your self, that your religion is actually better than someone else’s.

Arun Kumar Suri




The world is at cross roads today. On the one hand unprecedented advance in science and technology during the last one decade is making life more comfortable and enjoyable. On the other hand man’s evil qualities like greed, egoism and jealousy are threatening to tear the world apart.

All problems confronting us can be placed under two categories. One category consists of problems arising out of unbridled materialism- people thinking that the only goal of life is to amass wealth and enjoy all the pleasures of life. These people think that money is the be all and end all of human existence and that while earning money the end justifies the means. Someone rightly remarked that those who believe money is everything would do everything for money. Thus we have corruption, extortion, murder, **** and exploitation.

The other category represents problems arising out of religious fundamentalism and factionalism-people claiming exclusive rights over god and forcing their concept of god on others and people who for some reasons believe that they are unique and need a place only for themselves and cannot coexists with others.

Violence taking place is the name of religion is most unfortunate as all religions preach peace, love, compassion and brotherhood of man. In this context, the message of ancient Indian scriptures is particularly relevant. Since time immemorial the ancient scriptures have been proclaiming that Truth is one but wise men call it by many names. But some people think that they can patent God and this attitude leads to intolerance and conflicts.

The Indian scriptures have laid down the goals of human life. They are Dharma-moral code of conduct Artha-material prosperity, Kama-fulfillment of desires and Moksha-self realization. But today’s man has almost forgotten Dharma and Moksha and is busy pursuing Artha and Kama.

There is nothing wrong in earning money through legitimate means and enjoying the pleasures of life. But man should not forget the ultimate goal of human life, which is self-realization. The richest people in the world are not necessarily the happiest people. When someone told Yogananda (an Indian Guru who stayed in the USA for a long time) that he is disgustingly wealthy and disgustingly healthy Yogananda shot back and said “but you are not disgustingly happy”. Many rich people ruin their lives by turning into bad habits to get the maximum “kick” out of life.

That money by itself cannot guarantee happiness is evident by the fact that many rich people flock to ashrams and gurus going through many hardships instead of staying in air-conditioned rooms. The fleeting sensual pleasures cannot satisfy the longing of the human soul, which is seeking lasting happiness. Human mind is always restless and when it gets something it longs for something else. It is clear that man cannot be happy by trying to satisfy his senses and mind. Indian scriptures categorically state that real happiness can be attained only by stilling the mind through meditation and experiencing our true nature. Yogananda has written several books pointing out the similarities between the BHAGAVADGITHA AND BIBLE. He has also written a course containing various lessons, which explain how to meditate. His teaching has influenced countless number of people in all the continents cutting across barriers of caste, culture, religion and nationality. His teaching is universal and is acceptable to people with a scientific bent of mind. He explains using scientific and medical words the effects of correct meditation.

In order to fight the monsters of religious fundamentalism and uncontrolled materialism it is necessary for followers of different religions to come together. It is also essential to modify the educational system in every country to incorporate spirituality into the curriculum. True spirituality is about discovering ourselves and has nothing to do with the rites and rituals of various religions. While there is no need to oppose any particular ritual that is harmless, it is important to teach young children that it is absolutely foolish to fight in the name of God and religion. Using many examples we can convince them that there is a greater power responsible for creating this world and that people of different countries and religions call it by different names. We should teach tolerance and acceptance of all religions while encouraging everyone to continue in his religion. It is futile to try to convert others to our religion when we do not follow it ourselves. It is enough if every person becomes a true follower of his religion.

Kieron Mcfadden




One often hears the lazy argument that “Religion” is responsible for Man’s wars, the assumption being that if we got rid of religion all would be peace and harmony. Presumably then, if all men abandoned the notion that they are spirits inhabiting a material body and conceived of themselves as mere animals fashioned by chance from mud our troubles would be over and we’d all be a lot happier. This is of course untrue and does not correspond with an observation of history, nor of present reality.

It also displays a degree of fogginess about what one means by the word “religion” Religions vary considerably. There are pantheisms (the belief in many gods) monotheisms (the belief in one God who created all) and religions that worship no gods at all, such as Buddhism or modern Scientology.

At the far end of the spectrum there are even religions that do not conceive man to be an immortal soul even while life is considered to be nevertheless spiritual in essence.

Some religions such as Christianity stress faith, while faith has no place at all in others -Scientology and Buddhism being cases in point.

One should note too, while one is discussing paradigms based on Faith, that materialism remains unable to produce conclusive evidence for its basic assumption. That spirituality does not exist is a matter of belief, not evidence. One can of course produce evidence that the material universe exists and one can establish and prove its laws but this is not proof that that the material universe is all there is. The assertion that the material universe is all there is is neither scientific nor logical and is actually a statement of faith.

Alright, so this vague undefined variable known as “religion” or “faith” is responsible for Man’s wars. Is it true?

Well, I can think of a few recent conflicts or humanitarian cataclysms whose driving force was anything but religious.

Hitler’s massacre of ethnic minorities, for instance: religions were often the victim of **** psychosis but they were not responsible for it. In fact it is now a matter of record that the drive behind **** mass slaughter came from German Psychiatry, the arch-champion of the man-is-mud hypothesis.

The drive behind the Russian revolution and the Stalinist slaughter that followed it was anything but religious, deriving again from the materialism of communism and psychiatry.

Ditto the civil war and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. Ditto the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, with materialistic psychiatry the hidden motivator again.

The Chinese invasion of Korea in1950 and the Korean War that followed also had little or nothing to do with religious issues. One had materialistic communist China on the one hand and the largely atheistic commercial imperialism of western nations on the other.

The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were commerce-driven regardless of what justifications are concocted for it, while in the war in Vietnam religion figured neither in the motivation nor rhetoric of either side.

Not all war therefore is “caused” by “religion.” Religious groups are however often the victim or target of it but not exclusively and not always. There is no evidence that by “getting rid of religion” one would “get rid of war” any more than there is evidence that by outlawing atheism or abandoning commerce there would be peace on Earth.

Nor is there any evidence that an abandonment of spirituality would make society happier. On the contrary, our western society has become unhappier and more demoralized as it has become materialistic. You will probably find that the epidemic spread of drug abuse and crime on the one hand and the decline in man’s spirituality and even his sense of right and wrong follow commensurate curves. In the midst of material abundance, which theoretically should have made Man happier, we live out our days in an increasingly miserable Gomorrah of lost souls.

Of course “religion” is a factor in the war in the Middle East and in justifications for their crimes asserted by terrorist groups. And religion has been a factor in many a human conflict. It is true too that religious societies have not necessarily been happy ones either.

In fact, a look at human history tells one that whether spiritual in outlook or materialistic in outlook, Man tends to have a hard time. From this one can conclude that humanity is still evolving its social forms and does not yet have all the answers. This is no reason to get apathetic about the whole thing and to abandon the effort to reason in favour of generalized, unworkable slogans. Indeed, we have every incentive to go on trying to get better at these things called society and civilization, if only through a sense of responsibility to our children who will inherit whatever dog’s breakfast we bequeath them.

Part of getting better at managing human affairs is dropping the habit of buying into broad, untrue, generalities such as “religion is the cause of war” or some such nonsense, looking it over more carefully and seeing if we can get a bit closer to the truth, a bit more accurate about what exactly is getting us into trouble.

Perhaps, if we do, we might grow up a bit and as a species begin carrying ourselves with more dignity and less floundering slapstick and we might perchance knock off the habit of following every psycho who seeks to persuade us to burn the skin off the children of people we have never met.

I will continue this effort to apply reason to the matter of religion and war in the next essay in this series.