A Course In Miracles
Excerpt:
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 42
By J. Preston Eby
It will dismay some for me to say it, but the ancient serpent religion of Aesculapius has reappeared in our day, not in the same form, but out of the same demonic realm of deception. Let me explain to you the mystery. In the summer of 1965 an atheist psychologist (remember the psychotherapy at Aesculapian?) in New York City by the name of Helen Schucman began to hear an “inner voice.” As the voice persisted Helen began to take a sort of cosmic dictation from “the voice” and this voice gave her distinct and clear direction on things she was to write. By this process of “channeling” over a period of seven years the well-known book, A Course in Miracles, was born. With more than 1,200 pages, a royal blue cover and gold-stamped lettering, the book looks like a Bible, even laid out in chapters and verses. This resemblance is intentional. After all, the Course claims as its author the central person of the Bible, none other than Jesus Christ Himself!
Before Helen Schucman began writing A Course in Miracles she began to have what she refers to as “higher visual imagery” or dream sequences. She began to experience this with considerable clarity. One of these sequences involved being in a boat. Helen herself relates the incident. “The boat was moving slowly, but easily, along a straight little canal. There was just enough breeze to help the boat along. I wonder if there is buried treasure here, I thought to myself dreamily; I shouldn’t be surprised if there were. Then I noticed a long pole with a large hook on the end lying on the bottom of the boat. Just the very thing, I thought, dropping the hook into the water and reaching the pole down as far as I could. The hook caught something heavy, and I raised it with difficulty. It was an ancient treasure chest, well worn from the water and the bottom covered with seaweed. There was nothing in the chest but a large black book like the spring binders used to hold manuscripts or papers together. On the spine one word was written in gold — AESCULAPIUS. The word was familiar but I couldn’t remember what it meant. I found that it was the name of the Greek god of healing. I saw the same book once more a few nights later, this time there was a string of pearls around it.” The black book stood for the revelation given in A Course in Miracles!
Can we not see by this that A Course in Miracles is inspired by the same spirit of darkness that birthed the ancient healing cult of the pagan god Aesculapius! I have the book in my library. While it does contain many thoughts that appear to correspond closely to kingdom and sonship truths, it is actually a New Age book and it is my conviction that it is the “voice of a stranger.” I have also a video tape which is a promotional introduction to A Course in Miracles. At the time this video was made Dr. Kenneth Wapnick was the president of The Foundation for A Course in Miracles. In an interview on the video Dr. Wapnick gave an enlightening overview of the book. In this interview he explained about A Course in Miracles: “It is given in a Christian context, but it’s a Christianity that has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible.”
Note, precious friend of mine, he does not say that the Jesus who spoke in Helen Schucman and dictated A Course in Miracles is not the Jesus of tradition, or the Jesus of religion, or the Jesus of the church systems, or the Jesus of Mystery Babylon. Oh, no! He states plainly and unabashedly that the Jesus of A Course in Miracles is NOT THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE! The question follows — if this Jesus who dictated A Course in Miracles is not the Jesus of the Bible, then which Jesus is He? I do not doubt for one moment that he is the Jesus the apostle Paul spoke of when he said, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted…such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (II Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15).
Another clue to the origin of this book is found in the fact that the Jesus of A Course in Miracles speaks through an unconverted atheist — not through holy apostles and prophets! Helen Schucman did not meet the Jesus Paul met on the Damascus road, she did not meet this Jesus in a saving, redeeming, regenerating experience by the Holy Ghost! She makes no confession of being washed from her sins in the precious blood of Jesus! She received no baptism in the Holy Spirit! She does not testify to any New Testament experience of salvation, justification, redemption, sanctification, or regeneration! She discovers only her own “inner voice” of the god already incarnate in her unregenerated spirit — revealed by a Jesus who is NOT THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE!
Now, her experience did not begin with the preaching of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It began with dreams while she was still an atheist! In her first remarkable dream she retrieved from the canal a book, the name of which was AESCULAPIUS — the Greek god of healing! Not the book of Yahweh, not the testimony of Jesus Christ, not the word of God, but the book of the pagan deity of healing whose symbol was — guess what? The serpent! This book stood for the revelation she was about to receive, which revelation, obviously, was inspired by the very same personage who taught mother Eve her wonderful revelation in the garden of Eden!
Though the Course talks about Christ, the Holy Spirit, the atonement, and prayer, it comes to dramatically different conclusions than the Bible. In several places the book even offers commentary on biblical scriptures, or as the Course states, “the upside-down thinking of the New Testament.” Some of this “upside-down thinking” regards the crucifixion, and how, according to the Course, “the apostles often misunderstood it.” Again and again the Course disputes the gospel preached by the apostles, elevating its own revelation above the Bible. As one teacher of the Course put it, “Jesus did not suffer and die for our sins.” This idea flagrantly contradicts the word of God: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (I Pet. 3:18). Thus, A Course in Miracles is a perversion of the central message of the gospel! For those who have never met Jesus in a saving experience this book is one thing. They do not know the gospel! But for those who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship to God to believe it, is another matter!
I am going to tell you plainly, accurately, and precisely what A Course in Miracles is all about. You see, beloved, all the gods of the pagans were overcome by the gospel of Jesus Christ! That is why the temple of Aesculapius is lying in ruins today, as are nearly all the pagan temples of the ancient world! I have seen them in Rome, in Greece, in Turkey, and in other nations of the world. The Lamb overcame them, for He is King of kings, and Lord of lords! They could not withstand the power and authority of the name of Jesus! Their myths, their lying signs and wonders, their deceiving oracles, their perverse and licentious rituals, their corrupt priesthoods were no match for the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit that was poured out upon the world through the ministries of the apostles of Jesus the Christ. Oh yes, God poured out the Spirit from the very throne of the heavens and a power and authority smote the false, demonic gods of the heathen that swept their abominations from the earth!
And now, in this hour, the greatest hour since the early church, when the Lord is preparing the firstfruits of His redemption, the manchild birthed from the womb of the true church, the manifest sons of God to set creation free — that wily serpent of old, in order to get back at the holy seed, has manifested himself again as he did to Eve in the garden, appearing as an angel of light, the demon spirit of Aesculapius, impersonating the very person of Jesus the Christ, in his subtle effort to prevent the birth of the manchild, to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect! I have known many who received the call to sonship with joyful hope and expectation who have since been turned aside by this insidious delusion. That is why it arose in the earth at this specific time of our generation! It is part of the ancient serpent’s effort to destroy the promised seed! And now, my beloved, as Paul Harvey says, YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY!
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