<\/p>\n
“DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL!”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 THE NEW AGE PRACTICE OF CHANNELING<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n copyright 1988 by Eric Pement<\/p>\n Nov. 28, 1988<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They close their eyes and lips. For a minute or two, sitting with<\/p>\n quiet focus, they breathe in great volumes of air, sucking up strength<\/p>\n for a momentous journey. Suddenly, another personality takes over and<\/p>\n an alien voice speaks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Channeling has become one of the paramount landmarks of the New Age<\/p>\n movement, eclipsing herbal cures, mundane astrology, and flotation<\/p>\n tanks. Now an integral part of the Aquarian scene, channelers seem to<\/p>\n have multiplied geometrically in the past fifteen years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trying to monitor this wave is an incredible task. Its influence is<\/p>\n propagated through multiple avenues — radio and TV interviews, private<\/p>\n channeling sessions, cassette distribution, videotape sales and<\/p>\n rentals, newsletters, magazines, mass seminars, conferences, and an<\/p>\n endless stream of channeled literature. (They don’t call it “automatic<\/p>\n writing” for nothing.) Net profits on all this have been estimated at<\/p>\n from 100 to 400 million dollars annually.[1]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Exactly what is it? Jon Klimo, author of a sympathetic yet thorough<\/p>\n survey of channeling, says it “is a phenomenon in which otherwise<\/p>\n ordinary people seem to let themselves be taken over by, or in other<\/p>\n ways receive messages from, another personality who uses them as a<\/p>\n conduit, medium, or channel for the communication — hence the term<\/p>\n medium<\/em> or channel<\/em>.” [2]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the more popular channelers is J.Z. (Judy Zebra) Knight. She<\/p>\n channels Ramtha, also known as “the Ram,” supposedly a 35,000-year-old<\/p>\n being from Atlantis who invented the practice of war. I like Martin<\/p>\n Gardner’s summary of Ramtha’s story: “Slowly he came to realize that he<\/p>\n himself was part of the God he hated. After 63 OBEs [out-of-body<\/p>\n experiences], his body vibrating faster than light, he became one with<\/p>\n the wind. On the side of Mount Indus, in Tibet, free of weight, he<\/p>\n ascended into the Seventh Heaven, where he and God became one. He is<\/p>\n now part of an ‘unseen brotherhood’ of superbeings who love us and hear<\/p>\n our prayers.”\u00a0[3] Ramtha has made Knight a millionairess several times<\/p>\n over; she, in turn, has had Ramtha’s name copyrighted to prevent anyone<\/p>\n else from channeling him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Penny Torres and Jach Pursel are the two most popular rivals to J.Z.<\/p>\n Knight. Penny channels Mafu, “a highly evolved being from the seventh<\/p>\n dimension, last seen on earth when he incarnated as a leper in<\/p>\n first-century Pompeii.”\u00a0[4] Mafu, like Ramtha, speaks with a Slavic<\/p>\n accent. Meanwhile, Jach Pursel channels Lazaris, a “group being” from<\/p>\n beyond time and space who has (have?) never been embodied in our<\/p>\n dimension. Lazaris speaks with a lisp.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The range of “entities” supposedly being channeled today is<\/p>\n virtually unlimited. Spirit Speaks<\/em>, a bimonthly magazine from<\/p>\n California, is a Reader’s Digest<\/em> of messages from various channeled<\/p>\n entities. Some of its regular contributors include Dong How Li (a<\/p>\n Tibetan monk last incarnated 2600 years ago), Gabriel (an angel), Dr.<\/p>\n Peebles (a Scottish physician from the 1800s), and Zoosh (“a<\/p>\n non-physical being from Alpha Centauri”).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An excellent survey of the channeling scene (from a Christian<\/p>\n perspective) is provided in a recent book by John Ankerberg and John<\/p>\n Weldon. They note that the personalities being channeled “claim to be<\/p>\n various aspects of the human mind or the ‘collective’ mind of humanity<\/p>\n . . . They also claim to be the Holy Spirit, troubled ghosts, the<\/p>\n spirits of animals and plants (dolphins, trees, flowers), multiple<\/p>\n human personalities, the inhabitants of mythical cultures (Atlanteans,<\/p>\n Lemurians), and even a possible alien computer that exists in the<\/p>\n future. Critics, realizing that some people are claiming to channel<\/p>\n dolphins, others the spirits of fruits and vegetables and still others<\/p>\n computers from the future, have come to conclude the sanity of the<\/p>\n nation is at risk.” [5]<\/p>\n HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL BACKGROUND<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Channeling activity, understood in its wider sense to include spirit<\/p>\n possession in general, can be traced back to the earliest times and<\/p>\n civilizations. The acceptance of animism (the belief that spirits are<\/p>\n present in all of nature, including plants, inert objects, and seasons)<\/p>\n or the practice of ancestor veneration have provided primitive cultures<\/p>\n with sufficient groundwork for the rise of spiritism. Certainly,<\/p>\n spirit mediumship, as well as attempts at spirit-control, can be seen<\/p>\n in shamanism (the activities of the tribal witchdoctor, magician, or<\/p>\n healer in controlling the forces\/spirits of nature).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Channeling can be traced back to the ancient religions of Egypt,<\/p>\n India, and the Near East; thus, we should pay special attention to the<\/p>\n Biblical injunctions on this topic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The commandments given to Moses after the Exodus from Egypt (about<\/p>\n 1400 B.C.) expressly forbid communication with “spirit mediums” (Lev.<\/p>\n 19:31) [6], or going to one who “inquires of the dead” (Deut. 18:11).<\/p>\n Mosaic law prescribed the death penalty both for the medium and for the<\/p>\n person who sought out the medium for advice (Lev. 20:6, 27). Indeed,<\/p>\n one of the chief reasons that King Saul, the first king of Israel, was<\/p>\n slain was for “going to one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire of<\/p>\n it” (1 Chron. 10:13). Seven hundred years after Mt. Sinai, in the days<\/p>\n of Isaiah, the prohibition still remained. Those who sought<\/p>\n information from “mediums and wizards” were to be answered brusquely:<\/p>\n “Should not a people seek their God instead? Should they seek to the<\/p>\n dead on behalf of the living?” (Isa. 8:19)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In New Testament times, possession and control by discarnate spirits<\/p>\n were accepted realities. The actions of Jesus in casting out “demons”<\/p>\n and “unclean spirits” are mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament<\/p>\n (Matt. 8:28ff, 9:32ff, 12:22ff, 17:14ff, etc.). Jesus likewise<\/p>\n commissioned his apostles to cast out demons (Matt. 10:1) and gave this<\/p>\n authority to others not numbered among the Twelve (Luke 10:17). The<\/p>\n early church continued to conduct exorcisms (Acts 8:7, 19:12).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An interesting incident regarding a channeler appears in the<\/p>\n sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. While Paul and Silas<\/p>\n were evangelizing in Philippi, a city of western Greece, they were<\/p>\n persistently followed by a slave girl “with a spirit of divination”<\/p>\n (Acts 16:16). The Greek text literally reads a “python spirit” [Gk.<\/p>\n pneuma puthona<\/em>], a reference to an entity named The Python, which<\/p>\n inhabited the high priestess of the temple of Apollo at Delphi.<\/p>\n (Remember hearing about “the oracle of Delphi” in school? That was<\/p>\n her.) “The Python” or “python spirit” later became a generic term for<\/p>\n a discarnate entity which predicted the future. The apostle Paul<\/p>\n finally “turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of<\/p>\n Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour.”<\/p>\n (Acts 16:18)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It bears noting that this spirit of divination evidently could<\/p>\n provide some genuine information (verse 16). This was not a natural<\/p>\n ability, nor was the woman using methods of fraud or “cold reading,”<\/p>\n because when Paul cast out the spirit, she lost her powers and the<\/p>\n ability to make money for her owners (v. 19). If the woman had been<\/p>\n drawing upon a natural talent or using a swindle technique, she should<\/p>\n still have been able to earn money by deception, as previously. In any<\/p>\n case, this was not a power the Lord wanted in her life, and through the<\/p>\n authority of Jesus Christ it was cast out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CHANNELING IN MAJOR RELIGIONS<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For centuries, among monotheistic cultures spirit communication was<\/p>\n usually limited to spirits of divine origin (God, Jesus, one of the<\/p>\n angels, etc.). Muhammad claimed multiple encounters with the angel<\/p>\n Gabriel, whose messages are preserved in the Qur’an. In the Middle<\/p>\n Ages, Roman Catholic mystics were permitted visions and appearances of<\/p>\n Jesus or the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), the brilliant metallurgist,<\/p>\n inventor and scientist of the eighteenth century, abandoned his career<\/p>\n for spiritism. Claiming to be in contact with angels, he wrote<\/p>\n prodigious treatises and commentaries based on these visions and<\/p>\n communications, and founded a major cultic movement influential among<\/p>\n European and American intellectuals. In nineteenth-century America<\/p>\n several cults, such as the Mormons and the Shakers, claimed communion<\/p>\n with angels or spirits of the dead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Baker Eddy often attempted to distinguish Christian Science<\/p>\n (which she founded) from spiritualism. Yet she herself acted as a<\/p>\n trance channeler briefly before “discovering” Christian Science (1866).<\/p>\n In The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian <\/em><\/p>\n Science<\/em>, Georgine Milmine describes the experiences of Mary Baker<\/p>\n Patterson (who later became Mrs. Eddy). Mary Baker Patterson channeled<\/p>\n the spirit of her dead brother Albert in 1864 (or claimed to, anyway).<\/p>\n Milmine’s book reproduces a photograph of automatic writing,<\/p>\n purportedly from Albert, in Mary’s hand. [7] Two years later, in the<\/p>\n company of other spiritualists, Mrs. Patterson [Eddy] acted as a trance<\/p>\n medium, this time claiming to channel only the spirits of the Apostles<\/p>\n and of Jesus Christ. [8]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The channeling floodgates opened in this country in the<\/p>\n mid-nineteenth century with the advent of spiritualism, the attempt to<\/p>\n communicate with spirits of the dead. Historians almost universally<\/p>\n trace the origin of the spiritualist movement to 1848 in Hydesville,<\/p>\n New York, with the Fox sisters, Margaret and Kate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Margaret was 14 and Kate was 11 when they first heard the sounds of<\/p>\n knocking, furniture being moved, and other sounds in various rooms of<\/p>\n their home, in late 1847. [9] At these times, their beds would vibrate<\/p>\n and shake without any reason. The children were terrified and Mrs.<\/p>\n Fox’s hair turned white through this ordeal. [10]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the night of March 31, 1848, 12-year-old Kate challenged these<\/p>\n unseen powers to repeat the snaps of her fingers, which they did. Each<\/p>\n number of snaps would be followed by the same number of raps, and thus<\/p>\n the girls began to communicate with the spirits. News spread rapidly,<\/p>\n and the family home was visited by interested writers and curiosity<\/p>\n seekers. The sisters began to hold seances, communicating with the<\/p>\n spirits by means of a simple code. In mid-April, Kate’s parents sent<\/p>\n her away to live with her older sister Leah in Rochester, N.Y., hoping<\/p>\n to quell the disruption it had caused the family. (The spirits were<\/p>\n usually more active in Kate’s presence.) The rappings immediately<\/p>\n spread to Leah’s house, and Leah also became a believer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first message the Fox sisters received was this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear friends, you must proclaim these truths to the world.<\/p>\n This is the dawning of a new era, and you must not try to conceal<\/p>\n it any longer. When you do your duty, God will protect you and<\/p>\n good spirits will watch over you. [11]<\/p>\n Fascination with spiritualism spread like wildfire, and within 30<\/p>\n years there were tens of thousands of spiritualists in the U.S.,<\/p>\n England, and across Europe, and national organizations were formed. In<\/p>\n 1855 the first national spiritualist newspaper was issued in England;<\/p>\n in 1866 a national conference was held in Rhode Island, where<\/p>\n resolutions were passed that citizens should abandon all Christian<\/p>\n ordinances and worship and close down all Sunday schools. In 1870, Sir<\/p>\n William Crookes, famed British scientist who invented the Crookes tube<\/p>\n (forerunner of the modern picture tube), called on the nation’s<\/p>\n scientists to investigate spiritualism. Seeking to contact his dead<\/p>\n daughter, Crookes was convinced of spiritualism’s validity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Queen Victoria consulted several mediums, hoping to speak with her<\/p>\n late husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Seances were held at the<\/p>\n White House under Lincoln’s presidency. British prime minister William<\/p>\n Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) were all converts to<\/p>\n spiritualism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini tried to prevent<\/p>\n Conan Doyle from being duped by crank mediums, but Doyle remained<\/p>\n convinced that the spiritualists had true supernatural powers. He<\/p>\n believed spiritualism was “a new revelation” to mankind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Christianity must be modified by this new revelation,” Doyle wrote,<\/p>\n referring to spiritualism and psychic phenomena generally. “One can<\/p>\n see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, nor in the God who could be<\/p>\n placated by such means. Above all, many cannot understand such<\/p>\n expressions as the ‘redemption from sin,’ ‘cleansed by the blood of the<\/p>\n Lamb,’ and so forth.” [12]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Houdini’s 1924 autobiography, Houdini: A Magician Among the <\/em><\/p>\n Spirits<\/em>, is a fascinating account of the origins and numerous frauds<\/p>\n connected with nineteenth-century spiritualism. After over thirty<\/p>\n years of research, he wrote, “I have accumulated one of the largest<\/p>\n libraries in the world on psychic phenomena, Spiritualism, magic,<\/p>\n witchcraft, demonology, evil spirits, etc., some of the material going<\/p>\n as far back as 1489, . . . but nothing I ever read concerning the<\/p>\n so-called Spiritualistic phenomena has impressed me as being<\/p>\n genuine.” [13]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was not Houdini, however, who struck the greatest blow against<\/p>\n spiritualism. A shattering revelation had come a generation earlier,<\/p>\n from Margaret and Kate Fox themselves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Forty years after the Fox sisters told the world of the spirit<\/p>\n rappings, both confessed they were frauds. On October 21, 1888,<\/p>\n 54-year-old Margaret Fox gave a public confession at the New York<\/p>\n Academy of Music, before an audience of over two thousand people.<\/p>\n Standing in her stocking feet on a small pine table on the stage, she<\/p>\n produced loud, distinct raps which could be heard throughout the<\/p>\n building. Her sister likewise gave consent. That same year, she told<\/p>\n a crowd, “I am here tonight, as one of the founders of Spiritualism, to<\/p>\n denounce it as absolute falsehood . . . the most wicked blasphemy the<\/p>\n world has ever known.” [14]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One year later, they changed their minds, and both recanted their<\/p>\n previous confessions! They claimed the spirit manifestations had<\/p>\n always been genuine, and they had never tricked anyone with false<\/p>\n knocks or raps, retracting all they had said in 1888. The Fox sisters<\/p>\n had become alcoholics in the 1860s, and fellow spiritualists claimed<\/p>\n their confessions had been bought off. The last years of their lives<\/p>\n were spent in drunkenness, and their public speech now contained little<\/p>\n more than profanity. Both died as alcoholics, Kate in 1892 and<\/p>\n Margaret in 1893, both cursing God as they died. [15]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CHANNELING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spiritualism by no means disappeared with the death of the Fox<\/p>\n sisters. In fact, it diversified into spiritualist sects which<\/p>\n could be rationalistic (strongly anti-Christian), average (mildly<\/p>\n anti-Christian), and strongly religious, complete with sacraments and<\/p>\n baptism. The spiritualist movement also provided the impetus for the<\/p>\n study of psychic research and parapsychology.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The early quarter of the twentieth century witnessed the epiphany<\/p>\n of a few shining stars in the astral firmament. Two of these were<\/p>\n channeled books, the other was the so-called “sleeping prophet,” Edgar<\/p>\n Cayce (1877-1945).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cayce was raised in rural Kentucky. His parents were Campbellites.<\/p>\n He claimed to see “little people” as a child. The turning point in his<\/p>\n life occurred in 1901, at the age of 24. Cayce had been suffering from<\/p>\n a chronic case of laryngitis and voice loss after contracting a cold a<\/p>\n year earlier. In desperation, he turned to a hypnotist, Al Layne.<\/p>\n After Cayce had entered a deep trance, Layne asked him to diagnose the<\/p>\n cause of his hoarseness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Immediately the fateful words came forth: ‘Yes, we can see the<\/p>\n body.’ The voice diagnosed the problem as insufficient circulation.<\/p>\n Layne gave a suggestion that the body cure itself. Cayce’s neck grew<\/p>\n pink, then bright red. Twenty minutes later, it became normal again.<\/p>\n Layne told Cayce to wake up, and when he did, his voice had returned.”<\/p>\n [16] So goes the story in the Cayce biographies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cayce’s life was changed permanently. News of this story spread,<\/p>\n and Cayce’s neighbors asked him to diagnose their diseases for them.<\/p>\n Cayce learned how to put himself in a trance state fairly quickly, and<\/p>\n after he appeared to fall asleep, the voice would take over and<\/p>\n prescribe various unorthodox cures which always seemed to work.<\/p>\n Eventually, the questioners began to ask him about spiritual matters,<\/p>\n and from then on Cayce channeled metaphysical “truths,” promoting<\/p>\n reincarnation, monism, astrology, gnosticism, Atlantis, mediumship,<\/p>\n etc. Cayce’s followers were devoted to these “readings,” and over<\/p>\n 14,000 trance sessions have been transcribed, cataloged, and indexed<\/p>\n since his death. This material forms a vast body of occult reference<\/p>\n material which has been used for decades.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Equally potent has been The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ<\/em>,<\/p>\n published in 1907, channeled through Levi Dowling, who was purportedly<\/p>\n empowered to read the “Akashic Records” (a scribal form of the<\/p>\n Universal Mind, containing all the history of the universe). Levi’s<\/p>\n Aquarian Gospel<\/em> has provided a mythical history of the life of Christ<\/p>\n picked up by many cults and New Age devotees. It describes a<\/p>\n reincarnated Jesus, who attained Christ consciousness after visiting<\/p>\n Egypt, Greece, and India, during the so-called “silent years” before<\/p>\n his public ministry in Palestine. [17]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For a book supposedly transcribed from the Akashic records, The <\/em><\/p>\n Aquarian Gospel<\/em> is riddled with error, beginning from its first verse.<\/p>\n It says “Herod Antipas was ruler of Jerusalem” when Jesus was born.<\/p>\n That should have been Herod the Great, not Herod Antipas. It has Jesus<\/p>\n visiting Lahore in Pakistan (31.1); Lahore didn’t historically exist<\/p>\n until 600 years later. It shows Jesus visiting magicians in Persepolis<\/p>\n (39.1); Persepolis was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. and<\/p>\n was never rebuilt. Nonetheless, this book has been adopted by many<\/p>\n unwitting readers as “proof” of a secret occult past for Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Urantia Book<\/em> was also obtained through trance channeling. Its<\/p>\n unknown author served as a medium for dozens of extraterrestrial<\/p>\n intelligences, beginning in the early 1900s. (“Urantia” is the name<\/p>\n these space beings give to the planet earth.) Ironically, it was a<\/p>\n Seventh-day Adventist minister and physician, who had spent over a<\/p>\n decade debunking and refuting spiritualism, who was ultimately<\/p>\n responsible for the publication of the Urantia papers. Dr. William<\/p>\n Sadler finally found a channeler he couldn’t expose as a fraud, whose<\/p>\n entities were utterly inexplicable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beginning in 1923, Dr. Sadler invited a group of friends, informally<\/p>\n known as The Forum, to examine and question these intelligences, which<\/p>\n were rapidly becoming more numerous. The channeler began producing<\/p>\n automatic writing in response to their questions, and eleven years<\/p>\n later these papers were completed. The entities asked Dr. Sadler, by<\/p>\n now a true believer, that the work be published, though it wasn’t until<\/p>\n 1955 that the 2100-page volume made it into print. [18] The Urantia<\/em><\/p>\n Book<\/em> has influenced thousands of people, and is fully consistent with<\/p>\n New Age ideology.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE ADVENT OF MODERN CHANNELING<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It would be hard to say just where “modern” channeling practices<\/p>\n should be dated from, but I’m inclined to point to the Seth material,<\/p>\n channeled through the late Jane Roberts (died 1984). Jane, a housewife<\/p>\n and would-be writer, first encountered “Seth” through a spontaneous<\/p>\n experience in September 1963. Jane said “a fantastic avalanche of<\/p>\n radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force,” not<\/p>\n unlike an LSD trip. [19]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jane transmitted this material for over twenty years and, like most<\/p>\n channeled writing, it is amazingly consistent with New Age philosophy<\/p>\n (reality is a construct of our minds, etc.). Jane Roberts was the<\/p>\n first contemporary channeler to gain widespread acceptance in the<\/p>\n 1970s, and since then the volume of channelers and channeled writings<\/p>\n has fallen on our society like a deluge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How does channeling fit in the larger picture? We interviewed Joel<\/p>\n Bjorling, author of a forthcoming bibliography on channeling. Since<\/p>\n he’s up to his eyeballs in studying channeled writings, we asked him<\/p>\n how contemporary channeling differs from its nineteenth-century<\/p>\n predecessor. He pointed out that in terms of content (i.e., what is<\/p>\n taught), both have the same philosophy and share a common root. The<\/p>\n outward phenomenon is also similar — in both cases, a disembodied<\/p>\n entity speaks through the channeler, usually in a trance state.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One difference this author has observed is that the spiritualist<\/p>\n movement focused on seances (dim lights, formal invocations, etc.) and<\/p>\n supernatural manifestations — table lifting, “direct voice” phenomena,<\/p>\n ectoplasm, materialized writing or faces, etc. By contrast, today’s<\/p>\n channelers do everything under bright lights, usually on stage, and the<\/p>\n only visible event is when an alien personality takes them over. The<\/p>\n channelers usually don’t exhibit the powers or physical phenomena, such<\/p>\n as levitation, that were present in spiritualism. (This may be due to<\/p>\n the development of infrared photography, but that’s another matter.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The basic themes have also differed. In spiritualism, the emphasis<\/p>\n was on “proof of survival” after death, and the public largely sought<\/p>\n reassurance that their deceased loved ones were happy in the Great<\/p>\n Beyond. In modern channeling, the focus is on “higher intelligences”<\/p>\n who have come to teach us Truth, showing us how to alter reality and<\/p>\n achieve self-fulfillment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Modern channeling centers around certain themes: (1) we are all<\/p>\n God(s), (2) there is no death, (3) reality is a product of the mind,<\/p>\n (4) prosperity is our right and “we can have it all,” and (5) we must<\/p>\n preserve the earth from nuclear or ecological catastrophe. This last<\/p>\n point is especially prevalent among UFO contactees, who communicate<\/p>\n telepathically with various “space brothers” (their term). The UFOs<\/p>\n generally warn that continued testing of nuclear weapons will disturb<\/p>\n the earth’s rotation or cause some kind of interplanetary disaster.<\/p>\n The space brothers are also concerned about environmental pollution on<\/p>\n our own planet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite the differences between the two movements, both<\/p>\n spiritualists and channelers are agreed that the traditional Christian<\/p>\n concept of God is false. Consider the following statement:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Agreement [among channelers] can be said to exist on one<\/p>\n point only, namely, that the historic Christian doctrine<\/p>\n respecting the nature and character of the Deity is an<\/p>\n imposition, the fabric of an artificial scholastic<\/p>\n philosophy, and contradicted by sound reason as well as<\/p>\n by the unanimous testimony of the spirit world. It is<\/p>\n certainly a remarkable fact that on this point the<\/p>\n higher intelligences are strangely unanimous and emphatic<\/p>\n in their statements, and all spiritualists are agreed. [20]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though this observation seems strikingly contemporary, it was<\/p>\n actually written over 80 years ago, in an analysis of the spiritualist<\/p>\n movement. We believe the parallels are too close to be coincidental.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CONCLUDING REMARKS<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is all channeling Satanic? In the direct sense, no. Many<\/p>\n channelers are not communicating with any spirit, but are simply<\/p>\n hucksters who have “learned the rap” and are capitalizing on the<\/p>\n current fascination with discarnate intelligences. J.Z. Knight may be<\/p>\n one such person — former followers testify to having seen her practice<\/p>\n Ramtha’s mannerisms, speech patterns, and accent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Personally, I have adopted Occam’s Razor when dealing with most<\/p>\n supernatural claims. Named after William of Occam, this principle of<\/p>\n logic states that when several explanations or solutions to a problem<\/p>\n are possible, the simplest is to be preferred to the more complex. As<\/p>\n he phrased it, “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”<\/p>\n William was undoubtedly using “entities” as a synonym for explanations,<\/p>\n but in this context I find the phraseology excruciatingly apropos.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some channelers may not be intentional fakers, but self-deceived<\/p>\n instead. I have known individuals who couldn’t tell the difference<\/p>\n between their own wayward thoughts and the voice of God. Stream-of-<\/p>\n consciousness musings and personal urges have been mistaken by some for<\/p>\n divine revelation. Self-deception of this sort can range all the way<\/p>\n to outright mental illness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also don’t discount the possibility that some trance channeling<\/p>\n may arise from a one’s own unconscious self-will. For instance, a<\/p>\n voice which claims to be Sushi from Napaj, a deity of great power and<\/p>\n pomp, may simply spring from the inner fantasies of the unregenerate<\/p>\n mind. Those who believe in man’s depravity should consider that man’s<\/p>\n own evil heart may well be the source of the channelers’ vulgar<\/p>\n pronouncements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet we cannot deny the reality of the spiritual realm. Both<\/p>\n Scripture and experience show that certain phenomena can only be<\/p>\n accounted for by demonic spirits. History records intrusions of the<\/p>\n demonic throughout all times and cultures, and we have no less an<\/p>\n authority than the Lord Jesus Christ himself who testifies to the<\/p>\n reality of this fact — and to his own power to save men from the<\/p>\n powers of darkness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the preceding discussion, though Satan need not be the immediate<\/p>\n source of a channeled message, he may be the remote cause behind it.<\/p>\n Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44) and<\/p>\n Satan’s parentage to occult sin is sure even though it may not be<\/p>\n immediate. On one level, whether channeling is “real” or “faked” is<\/p>\n immaterial; the person who seeks after “mediums and spiritists to<\/p>\n prostitute himself by following them” will be alienated from the<\/p>\n presence of God and subject to judgment (Lev. 20:6).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A man may forfeit his soul for counterfeit money just as surely as<\/p>\n for “real” money. But the effect of each loss will be the same,<\/p>\n regardless of the currency used. And in like manner, ultimately it’s<\/p>\n not the medium of exchange which matters but the consequences of the<\/p>\n transaction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n REFERENCES:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n PARANORMAL SOURCES (Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1987), p. 1.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prometheus Books, 1988), p. 195.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TODAY, Sept. 18, 1987, p. 22.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ore: Harvest House Publishers, 1988), p. 16.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n familiar spirits” (KJV) is the Hebrew word ‘obh<\/em>. It appears 16 times<\/p>\n in the OT and was used to indicate both spirits and spirit mediums.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CHRISTIAN SCIENCE (1909: rpt. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971),<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n accepted and the birthdates of the sisters is not certain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n sources and reference books. The reference to Mrs. Fox’s hair turning<\/p>\n white comes from Raphael Gasson, THE CHALLENGING COUNTERFEIT<\/p>\n (Plainfield, NJ: Logos, 1966), p. 47.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHIC SCIENCE, London, 1934, ad loc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stoughton, 1918), pp. 70, 71.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New York, Arno Press, 1972), p. xix.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Worth: Dominion Press, 1986), p. 198.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Press, 1985), for good summaries of this “gospel” and other<\/p>\n pseudo-scriptural forgeries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (quarterly newsletter of Personal Freedom Outreach, St. Louis, Mo.),<\/p>\n vol. 7 (Oct.-Dec. 1987): pp. 4-6.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL!” \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 THE NEW AGE PRACTICE OF CHANNELING copyright 1988 by Eric Pement Nov. 28, 1988 They close their eyes and lips. For a minute or two, sitting with quiet focus, they breathe in great volumes of air, sucking up strength for a momentous journey. Suddenly, another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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