| The reason is very simple: the Christian teaching comes from God’s revelation to man of the fate of the soul after death, and it emphasizes chiefly the ultimate state of the soul in heaven or hell. While there is also an abundant Christian literature describing what happens to the soul after death, based on firsthand after-death or out-of-body experiences (as presented in the chapter above on the “toll-houses”), this literature definitely occupies a secondary place when compared to the primary Christian teaching of the soul’s final state. The literature based on Christian experience is chiefly useful in elucidating and making more vivid the basic points of Christian doctrine. In occult literature, however, exactly the opposite is the case: the chief emphasis is on the soul’s experience in the “out-of-body” realm, while the ultimate state of the soul is usually left vague or open to personal opinions and guesses, supposedly based on these experiences. Today’s researchers are much more easily attracted to the experiences of occult writers (which seem to be capable of at least some degree of “scientific” investigation) than to the teaching of Christianity, which requires a commitment of belief and trust and the leading of a spiritual life in accord with it. In this chapter we will try to point out some of the pitfalls of this approach, which is by no means as “objective” as it seems to some people, and offer an evaluation of the occult “out-of-body” experiences from the point of view of Orthodox Christianity. In order to do this, we must look at some of the occult literature which today’s researchers are using to elucidate “after-death” experiences. 1. The Tibetan Book of the Dead The Tibetan Book of the Dead 17 is an 8th-century Buddhist book which probably hands down pre-Buddhist traditions from a much earlier period. Its Tibetan title is “Liberation by Hearing on the After-Death Plane,” and it is described by the English editor as “a mystic manual for guidance through the other world of many illusions and realms” (p. |
| This observation is substantiated by Dr. Nandor Fodor, the author of the well-documented Encyclopedia of Psychic Science : " Curiously enough, mediumism, if suppressed, will manifest in symptoms of disease … Once the practices are accepted, the disease disappears " (Secaucus, NJ, Citadel, 1974). The renowned psychic Edgar Cayce is a clear illustration of this. Joseph Millard writes that in fact he was a pitiful marionette of the forces of the other side (Edgar Cayce: Mystery Man of Miracles , Greenwich, CT, Faucett, 1967). An earlier medium, Raphael Gasson, wrote the following from personal experience: " Many have suffered greatly because they started investigating into this thing [mediumism], and have eventually been brought to distraction when they have attempted to free themselves from it. Homes have been broken up, suicide and lunacy have afflicted those who were once in it, and have dared to seek deliverance from its power. Those who have found that deliverance, give thanks to God for His grace and mercy " ( The Challenging Counterfeit , Plainfield, NJ, Logos, 1966). Spiritist and guru Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual counselor at the United Nations, comments that many sorcerers and others having dealings with spirits were strangled or otherwise killed. He was personally familiar with several such occurrences ( Astrology, the Supernatural and Beyond , Jamaica, NY, Angi Press, 1973). Professor Koch, who dedicated so many years to the study of abnormal apparitions, confirms that among those who occupy themselves with the occult there exist a high percent of suicides, tragic injuries and madness. He and many other specialists in the field of parapsychology affirm that extended preoccupation with the occult invariably ruins the physical well-being of a person, as if a certain inner vampire were sucking the strength of the occultist. People fall into the snares of the occult because they fail to see the danger. At first everything seems pleasant and easy. Malachi Martin in his book Hostage to the Devil describes the fate of a certain " Carl, " an accredited psychologist with a degree in physics and a keen interest in religion and parapsychology. |
| The great success of these occult ideas is due to the fact that the people who are seeking are spiritually uneducated and yet seem somehow to discover a new world where everything that until then was mysterious and impossible suddenly becomes understandable and attainable. There is nothing to be afraid of and no one before whom to tremble — everything is simple and able to be realized by him who has learned to manipulate nonphysical forces. Curiously enough, the very spirits which operate " in the wings " of contemporary quasi-scientific, occult experiments, are never insulted by the fact that channelers ignore their labors and silence their merits. On the contrary, the spirits willingly hide behind faceless nonphysical forces, since in this manner they can attain their primary goal: enslavement. And they are very successful in this, since their own prince, the devil, is a many faced and deceptive demagogue. To a person with intellectual inquiries he says: " I shall give you supernatural knowledge, " and to a person with mystical tendencies: " I shall open up to you the mysteries of existence. " To the person who thirsts for authority, he promises fame and power; to the person who is seeking worldly happiness, he promises all the blessings of life; and to the unbeliever he shouts: " I don " t exist. I am a fiction! " Therefore, having enticed a person with what he treasures most, the devil takes him further and further from God, until he is dropped into the bottomless pit. Thanks to his ability to adapt himself to the thoughts of a person, the devil has been able to deceive modern man with ancient, occult, fairy tales set in quasi-scientific terminology. Thus, even in our time there has arisen a branch of science, parapsychology, which studies and tries to scientifically explain the ancient practices of shamans and mediums. However, there remains the main question: does there exist a nonphysical, morally impersonal energy, and if so, what is its nature? In order to answer these question, one must take into consideration that any energy or force, either material or spiritual, is intimately related to the source that generates it. Thus for instance, no physical energy or field (electromagnetic or gravitational, for example) exists " by itself " but emanates from definite atomic or subatomic particles. And since these physical particles are impersonal, the forces which emanate from them are also impersonal and therefore are morally neutral. Similarly, spiritual energy and spiritual forces do not exist " on their own " but emanate from spiritual beings. And since the spiritual beings (angels, people, demons) are individuals , the energy emanating from them is, it follows, colored by their moral state — good or bad. Experienced psychics understand this very well and therefore try to guard themselves against moral infection. |
| We have already discussed in earlier chapters the reason for the difference in these two experiences: the Christian experience is of the genuinely other world of heaven and hell, while the spiritistic experience is only of the aerial part of this world, the “astral plane” of the fallen spirits. Today’s experiences clearly belong to the latter category – but we could not know this unless we accepted (on faith) the Christian revelation of the nature of the other world. Similarly, if Dr. Kubler-Ross and other researchers accept (or are sympathetic to) a non-Christian interpretation of these experiences, it is not because today’s experiences prove this interpretation, but because these researchers themselves already have faith in a non-Christian interpretation of them. The significance of today’s experiences, therefore, lies in the fact that they are becoming widely known at just the right time to serve as a “confirmation” of a non-Christian view of life after death; they are being used as part of a non-Christian religious movement. Let us look now more closely at the nature of this religious movement. 2. The Connection with Occultism Over and over again, in the investigators of “after-death” experiences, one may see a more or less evident connection with occult ideas and practices. Here we may define “occult” (which literally refers to what is “hidden”) as pertaining to any contacts of men with unseen spirits and powers in a way forbidden by God’s revelation (see Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, etc.). This contact may be sought by men (as in spiritistic seances) or instigated by the fallen spirits (when they appear spontaneously to men). The opposite of “occult” is “spiritual” or “religious,” which terms refer to that contact with God and His angels and saints which is permitted by God: prayer on man’s part, and true, grace-giving manifestations of God, angels, and saints on the other. As an example of this occult connection, Dr. Hans Holzer (Beyond This Life, Pinnacle Books, Los Angeles, 1977) finds the significance of “after-death” experiences to lie in their opening men up to communication with the dead, and he finds them to give the same kind of messages as those provided by the “dead” at spiritistic seances. Dr. Moody, and indeed very many of today’s researchers, as we have seen, look to occult texts such as the writings of Swedenborg and the Tibetan Book of the Dead to explain today’s experiences. Robert Crookall, perhaps the most scientific investigator in this field, uses the communications of mediums as one of his primary sources of information on the “other world.” Robert Monroe and others involved in “out-of-body” experiences are open practitioners of occult experimentation, even to the extent of receiving guidance and advice from the “discarnate entities” they encounter. |
| We hear the same affirmation from Uri Geller, known for his ability to twist spoons and knives by means of telepathy. He and his mentor, parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, MD, often experienced uneasy feelings in their dealings with spirits, noting a somewhat odd and suspicious behavior in themselves. Both occultists were convinced repeatedly that the spirits conducted themselves ambiguously, as though toying with them (Andrija Puharich, Uri, NY, Bantam, 1975). Similar uneasy feelings have been experienced by other accomplished spiritualists and mediums. Consequently, if the spirits in touch with an occultist lie , is it not clear they are not good angels and servants of God? Neither could they be souls of the dead, since, according to Sacred Scripture, souls are not allowed to roam the world freely. On the contrary, after a person " s death, God assigns his soul to a specific place, heaven or hell, in which the soul must reside until the Great Judgment Day: And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Therefore, if the spirits of the occultists are not angels nor are they the souls of the departed, then, as the last alternative, they are spirits subject to the one about whom the Savior said that H e is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44) — that is, of satan. It follows, therefore, that spiritualists and channelers who rely on the spirits of the nether world place themselves and others in great danger (as will be explained later). It is difficult to understand how people who would never trust a stranger so naively place themselves under the control of nether world beings, about whom they know nothing, and who are professional liars. Is spiritual energy impersonal? Let us now examine a second popular opinion, that through some occult practices one can activate the nonphysical energy which is either spread throughout the cosmos or is hidden in one’s self. This opinion is especially enticing to the contemporary skeptic, who acknowledges neither God nor the spiritual world. He gets excited that through his wish alone he can put in motion a powerful nonmaterial energy and force it to work for him. In anticipation of the existence of impersonal nonphysical forces, there has arisen a series of contemporary occult theories saturated with quasi-scientific terminology which are offered to the reader in the form of practical recipes for all occasions in life. |
| What motivates the enlightened people of the twentieth century to turn toward such unscientific and doubtful occupations as the summoning of spirits? The answer is that science and materialism alone cannot satisfy all the questions posed by modern man. Something in each of us thirsts and seeks after higher, spiritual answers to the principal questions, such as: what do we live for? Are there other worlds and other more complex forms of existence? What awaits us after death? Are there nonphysical forces which can help us to overcome the laws of physics and attain lasting happiness? And so people living in ignorance or simply ignoring Christian teachings turn to the esoteric. These esoteric cults claim that they know the answers to the fundamental questions of existence and can open the paths to nonphysical forces. But their answers are false and the methods disastrous. The most frightening thing is the fact that they smother the fear of God in man and the sense of responsibility for his acts. The fallen spirits joyously tell the novice occultist that there is no judgment by God or everlasting torment, but on the contrary, that everything in the afterlife is easy and pleasant. So enrich yourself with knowledge and absorb the power given you. Truly, sometimes as a result of occult practices a person may develop unusual capabilities: telepathy, clairvoyance, the ability to heal by " biofeedback, " the ability to move objects without touching them (telekinesis), etc. However, as we shall see, these capabilities are not self-developed in man, but come to him through the assistance of the unclean spirits , and that is the reason they are so menacing and harmful. True, in order not to scare off a naive novice, demons cleverly conceal their presence and present themselves as harmless roving spirits or as impersonal nonphysical energy, spread out in the cosmos or hidden within man himself. Now we shall examine and answer these claims of the occultists. The nature of occult spirits. |
| Such experiences, and especially the “Close Encounters” of the 1970’s, are noticeably bound up with “paranormal” or occult phenomena. People sometimes have strange dreams just before seeing UFOs, or hear knocks on the door when no one is there, or have strange visitors afterwards; some witnesses receive telepathic messages from UFO occupants; UFOs now sometimes simply materialize and dematerialize instead of coming and going at great speeds; sometimes “miraculous healings” occur in their presence or when one is exposed to their light. 27 But “Close Encounters” with UFOs have also resulted in leukemia and radiation sickness; often there are tragic psychological effects: personality deterioration, insanity, suicide. 28 The increase of the “psychic component” in UFO sightings has led researchers to seek similarities between UFO experiences and occult phenomena, and to seek the key to understanding UFOs in the psychic effects they produce ( The Invisible College, p. 29). Many researchers note the similarity between UFO phenomena and 19th-century spiritism, which also combined psychic phenomena with strange physical effects, but with a more primitive “technology.” In general, the 1970’s have seen a narrowing of the gap between the “normal” UFO phenomena of the past and the UFO cults, in accordance with the increased receptivity of mankind in this decade to occult practices. 4. Explanation of the UFO Phenomena Dr. Jacques Vallee’s newest book on UFOs, The Invisible College, reveals what reputable scientific researchers are now thinking about them. He believes that we are now “very close” to understanding what they are. He notes that the idea of “extraterrestrial” intelligent life has in a few years become astonishingly fashionable, among scientists as well as fortune tellers, as a result of “a great thirst for contact with superior minds that will provide guidance for our poor, harassed, hectic planet” (p. 195). He significantly sees that the idea of visitors from outer space has become the great myth or “wonderful untruth” of our times: “ It has become very important for large numbers of people to expect visitors from outer space” (p. 207, emphasis in the original). |
| Thus, the first-created man's fall into sin was the initial source of occult practice, the basis of magic and the search for secret knowledge. If before sin man and woman abided in a very close inner communion with God, and their well-being depended upon this, then in their fall, God ceased to be the dearest, inmost good that hallowed life from within. Now, the forbidden fruit—that external yet alluring object—became a " golden key " for man, by which he thought to achieve independent happiness and become a self-sufficient ruler of his own existence. If the first-created man's authority over the world could only be realized in the presence of his personal harmony with God, now man was trying to reach perfection " through the back door. " From that time on, we have people who want to possess mystical powers and abilities, and come up with various magic rituals or verbal formulas in order to influence the world—to become " like gods " without God. People acquire mystical knowledge, are proud of it, and then, like our fore-parents, lose absolutely everything. In the office of a psychic you will find a particularly mesmerizing atmosphere—mysterious semi-darkness, candles in candlesticks, a crystal ball; the visitor is also given a special relaxing tea. In this lulling atmosphere, a person lets down his guard, and his initial mistrust of the psychic is dulled. Then the psychic makes some motions to get the visitor to concentrate, focus his attention, and interact with him. The psychic then makes a visible display of his authority and capability. The patient feels completely dependent upon the " miracle-worker " and quickly agrees to every recommendation that the " specialist " convincingly makes. This is how the psychic gradually casts his spell over the visitor, just as the snake cast his spell over first-created Eve. Just what practices are related to occultism are set forth quite clearly in the Church's rite of renouncing occult practices. After a thorough confession of occult practices, before the prayer of absolution is read, the priest asks questions which the penitent answers using the proscribed phrases. In the rite, we read: |
| Mankind is coming once more to an acceptance of the possibility of contact with “another world.” Further, this “other world” itself seems to be opening itself up more to a mankind that is eager to experience it. The “occult explosion” of recent years has been produced by – and in turn has helped to produce – a spectacular increase in actual “paranormal” experiences of all kinds. “After-death” experiences are at one end of the spectrum of these experiences, involving little or no conscious will to contact the “other world”; the activities of contemporary witchcraft and satanism are at the other end of the spectrum, involving a conscious attempt to contact and even serve the powers of the “other world”; and the myriad varieties of today’s psychic experiences, from the “spoon-bending” of Uri Geller and parapsychological experiments in “out-of-body” travel and the like, to contact with and abductions by “UFO” beings – fall somewhere in between these extremes. Significantly, a large number of these “paranormal” experiences have been occurring to “Christians,” and one kind of these experiences (“charismatic” ones) is widely accepted as a genuinely Christian phenomenon. 52 In actuality, however, the “Christian” involvement in all such experiences is only a striking indication of the extent to which the Christian awareness of occult experience has been lost in our times. One of the foremost authentic mediums of the 20th century, the late Arthur Ford – whose increase in respectability among “Christians” and unbelieving humanists alike is itself one of the “signs of the times” – has given a revealing hint as to what the increasing acceptance of and susceptibility to occult experiences means: “The day of the professional medium is about over. We’ve been useful as guinea pigs. Through us, scientists have learned something about the conditions necessary for it (contact with the ‘spirit world’) to happen.” 53 That is: the occult experience hitherto restricted to a few “initiates” has now become accessible to thousands of ordinary people. |
| Theosophical texts which describe this experience in detail are so full of occult opinions and interpretations as to be largely useless in giving one an idea of the actual experiences of this realm. In the 20th century, however, there has been another kind of literature dealing with this experience: parallel to the rise of research and experiments in the field of “parapsychology,” some individuals have discovered, whether by accident or by experiment, that they are able to have the experience of “astral projection,” and they have written books describing their experiences in non-occult language; and some researchers have compiled and studied accounts of “out-of-body” experiences and have written about them in scientific rather than occult language. Here we shall look at several of these books. The “earthly” side of “out-of-body” experiences is well described in a book by the Director of the Institute of Psychophysical Research at Oxford, England. 23 In answer to an appeal made in September, 1966, in the British press and on the radio, the Institute received some 400 replies from persons who claimed to have had personal out-of-body experiences. Such a response indicates both that these experiences are by no means rare in our days, and that those who have had them are much more willing than in previous years to discuss them without fear of being thought “crazy.” Dr. Moody and other researchers have discovered the same things with regard to “after-death” experiences. These 400 persons were given two questionnaires to fill out, and the book was the result of a comparison and analysis of the replies to these questionnaires. The experiences described in this book were almost all involuntary ones which were triggered by various physical conditions: stress, fatigue, illness, an accident, anesthetization, sleep. Almost all of them occurred in the proximity of the body (not in any “spirit” realm), and the observations made are very similar to those made by people who have had “after-death” experiences: one views one’s own body from “outside,” possesses all sense faculties (even though in the body one might have been deaf or blind), is unable to touch or interact with one’s environment, “floats” in the air with an extreme sense of pleasantness and well-being; one’s mind is clearer than usual. Some persons described meetings with deceased relatives, or journeying to a landscape which seemed not part of ordinary reality. |
|
|
