A Course in Deception...

INTRODUCTION

When, many years ago, I was introduced to A Course in Miracles, I was awestruck. Here was a set of books, containing a new view of the world and religion, and it had been dictated by Jesus. It was incredible. I will return to the word “incredible” later.

First, let me tell you a little about my background. I grew up in the Netherlands in a Christian family. We went to church every Sunday, many of our aunts and uncles and friends did as well. The primary school I attended and the secondary school later on were linked to the church. Through those years, the traditional Christian faith seemed somewhat predictable and boring to me.

In my early twenties I started reading about Eastern philosophies which seemed so much more interesting and relevant than the well-established traditions of Christianity. And then, when I started to read the Course, I felt I had come home – here was a book which explained religion, Jesus and God, the world so well. Yet, the first 100 pages or so of the Text seemed the most accessible; after that, the Course became somewhat tedious and difficult to read.

More troubling was the great sense of unease I felt when doing the lessons of the workbook -- it was as if I was being brainwashed, and it didn't seem right. As a result, I never really tackled the lessons but only read the Text and focussed on the pages I particularly liked.

HELEN AND BILL

Over the years of being involved in the Course, it always bothered me that Helen Schucman felt a great unhappiness about the material which she claimed to have received. Fr. Groeschel who became a close friend of Helen, said that the last two years of her life were spent in profound despair and depression; she told him that writing the Course was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She referred to it as "that damned book."

Judith Skutch (who with Ken Wapnick edited the Course) recalls this incident from being with Helen when Helen was close to dying: Judith was sitting with an unresponsive Helen who suddenly turned to Judith and said, "Do you know why I’m dying? … it’s to get out of its way."

Hardly what you would expect from a person who wrote down words dictated to her by Jesus.

Helen admitted that she "wanted to change everything" she had written but that Bill Thetford persuaded her not to. Why would she question the words spoken to her by Jesus?

Meanwhile, Bill is described by Fr. Groeschel as the "most sinister person" he had ever met. Bill was an evangelical atheist, yet he took an active role in the scribing of the Course material. Apparently, Bill worked for the CIA on thought control projects during his time with Columbia University.

Helen had a part-Jewish background and she could not accept that Jesus was the Messiah and certainly not that he was the Son of God. Yet there is no evidence that she sought to undermine Christianity. It appears she really disliked the process of taking the "inner dictation" but felt she had no choice in the matter, and little influence on its contents. Perhaps she knew that the spirit entity which gave her the words of the Course was not a benign spirit.

At this point, it is worth pointing out that the main publicist of the Course, Ken Wapnick, is also a Jew and could accept Jesus as an older brother, but not the Messiah (in spite of his stint as a Catholic priest). It made it easy for him to accept the material.

Although the Course uses Christian terminology, it is evident that there is no proper acknowledgement of what Christianity really is, only a deliberate distortion. The key to Christianity lies in the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus which the Course refuses to acknowledge. The Course explains its re-interpretation of the crucifixion in isolation, completely glossing over the Christian understanding of this event, and its link to the subsequent resurrection.

WHAT MADE ME CHANGE MY MIND

Last year, I had a minor “Road to Damascus” experience which caused me to return to traditional Christianity. Rather than blindly accepting what the Bible says, I started reading books which investigated the historical truth of the life of Jesus, the teachings of the early Church, and the accuracy of the Gospels. This has been an eye-opening experience.

The conclusion I have reached, based on the work of many eminent scholars, is that the Jesus of the Bible is the same as the historical Jesus who is referred to in other writing of the early centuries. The earliest writings in the Bible – the letters from Paul – reflect very accurately the teachings of the church in the first couple of decades. Paul met with Peter and James in Jerusalem and from them obtained the essentials of the creed which is still recited in churches worldwide today.

The foundation of the Biblical Jesus lies in fact; it is supported by eyewitness accounts dating back to the first century. The Jesus of the Gospels is the Messiah, the Son of God. The gospels were written within decades of the events on Golgotha and the Garden of Gethsemane -- therefore, within the lifetimes of the key witnesses.

By contrast, the Course is a curious blend of Gnosticism, borrowings from Eastern religions with a good dose of New Age thinking and pop psychology thrown in; it contains no fresh ideas. Most importantly, it is not based on fact. This is reflected in the comments I have received from students of the Course: they refuse to discuss theological differences and just say that they are happy that I have "found something that works" for me. Any challenge to them to disprove the fact (for example) that evil exists is met with silence.

Christianity is not an easy way out. It requests that you accept responsibility for your failures, your sins; that you leave your old self behind and follow Jesus. As N.T. Wright says, we then realise that "God is God, Jesus is Lord and death is defeated." In this realisation lies complete and permanent freedom -- not some fuzzy feeling which gives you a warm glow for a while.

GNOSTICISM

The Gnostics, a group of sects existing in the days of early Christianity, believed the world was not created by God, but by a lower god (the Dimiurge). The Course states the world was made by the Ego.

They believed the world was evil and corrupted, and also believed that Christ did not come in the flesh but only as a spirit-- he "overshadowed" the man Jesus. This is a common concept in many New Age teachings. To Gnostics, whether or not the resurrection was a physical one doesn't matter, because the body is not important -- only spirit is.

They believed that Jesus revealed the true meaning of his teachings to certain disciples – and this message was different from what the Bible says. Does this sound similar to ACIM? Gnosis means spiritual knowledge, which was considered the way to salvation, rather than faith.

Contrast this with what the Jesus of the Bible says: "...I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father." (John 15:15) And in particular the emphasis on the bodily resurrection in Christianity -- it is that which gave the early Christians their identity, their hope, their courage.

The early Church regarded Gnostics as heretics because their views contradicted the teachings of Jesus as described by eyewitnesses. In spite of what certain popular books say, there was no conspiracy orchestrated by the early church. (And Jesus did not father a child with Mary Magdalene...)

The books of the New Testament are there because they reflect the teachings of Jesus, which is why the early church accepted them -- and this occurred in the first two centuries, not later when the church had become more established and had acquired power as the state religion.

Incidentally, Theosophy, the religion made up by Madame Blavatsky is based on both Gnosticism and Hinduism. She coined the expression Aryan race which Hitler (a Theosophist) used in his worldview.

PANTHEISM AND VEDANTA HINDUISM

With its recurring statement that "God is in everything" the Course defines itself as pantheism which totally contradicts Christianity. Further, it is clearly influenced by Vedanta Hinduism, which has two main concepts. The first is that human's real nature is divine and the second concept is that the aim of human life is to realise this divinity. Christianity says that man was created by God, but is not divine.

Hinduism believes that the world we see is an illusion. Christianity says that this world was created by God and is most certainly real. Early Hinduism did not believe in evil -- how could it, since everything is Brahman (God)? Eventually, Hinduism added the belief in reincarnation which explains the evil in this world by the concept of karma. The Course maintains that evil is an illusion and therefore retains its strong link with early Hinduism.

It is here that the apparent logic of the Course breaks down completely. On the one hand, it says that the world is an illusion, made by the Ego and of which God knows nothing. Yet it also states that "God is in everything" which totally contradicts the earlier thesis.

Most importantly, pantheism is entirely at odds with Christianity. N. T. Wright explains in his book Surprised by Hope that in the Christian worldview God will eventually (at the end of time) create a new heaven and earth. It is only then that God will be in everything. It is something that will happen in the future. By contrast, pantheism collapses the future into the present by declaring that God is in everything now.

The wars of the last couple of decades -- Kuwait, the Balkan, Afghanistan, Irak, Darfur, Sri Lanka -- should convince any sane person that the future event of the new heaven and earth has not yet arrived. To state (as the Course does) that evil is an illusion and that God is in everything, is not only theologically unsound -- it is an incredibly arrogant insult to the people who continue to suffer injustices in the world. By saying that, one colludes with evil and with death as N.T. Wright points out.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

After the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa, the government there established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As they state on their website: "Truth is the Road to Reconciliation" -- that road if not found by denial of evil acts, not claiming that there's only a wrong perception. They realised that only by revealing and accepting the truth of evil acts committed, could forgiveness be sought and reconciliation take place. This approach is at the core of Christianity.

The Course, however, claims that evil does not exist and that death is an illusion. This does not allow anyone to come to terms with bad things in their life. Is death an illusion? Have you ever had to say goodbye to a dying parent who you dearly loved? Have you ever had to bury a pet, with your crying child beside you? That must have seemed pretty real.

Chistianity teaches that this world is real, that this is where we do our work. We teach our children what is right and what is wrong -- there is a moral law. When you child cheats in an exam you tell her that is wrong. When someone is bullied at school, you protect them and stop the perpetrator.

The Course originated in the liberal seventies, when nobody was condemned, when everything was OK, Eastern religions were accepted as equally valid as Christianity and all paths would lead to God.

CHANNELING

There's nothing new in channeling, where an individual claims to receive messages from a "higher being" such as the Archangel Michael, the Holy Spirit, St Germain, Mary, Jesus or even God or (at the lower end of the scale) a cro-magnon warrior -- the variety is endless.

The Course is promoted as an amazing new development, a communication channeled from Jesus. However, these sort of things have been going on for decades; channeling is just a new word for spirit communication or mediumship.

In the mid-fifties, The Urantia Book was published which claims to shed light on millions' of year of history, and to provide new insights into the life of Jesus. Jane Roberts became famous in the seventies with books attributed to Seth. Actress Shirley MacLaine attracted attention with her books based on communications with a cro-magnon warrior spirit guide.

Before that, we had the fraudster Helena Petrovna Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society, Alice Bailey (who was influenced by Blavatsky) and Edgar Cacey with his unfulfilled prophesies and ineffective cures for sufferers. These days, Benjamin Creme continues to push the case for Maitreya the Christ who is also linked to Jesus. Neale Donald Walsch tops the title list with "Conversations With God" (it doesn't pay to be modest) in which "God" turns morality on its head by stating that Hitler never killed anyone, he merely "released" them.

It is both the medium and message (apologies for the pun) which are suspect in these instances. If spirit guides exist, how do we know they can be trusted, and speak for God? And why do all these communications disagree with each other? As Charles Upton writes in The System of Antichrist on page 250: "Perhaps the real purpose of A Course in Miracles is to attract, and spiritually neutralise, those with the capacity to understand and profit from metaphysical Truth. If so, then who is its author?" Upton is not a typically orthodox Christian; whilst he believes in the biblical Jesus,the Christian meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection, he approaches the New Age from the perpsective of a seeker for metaphysical truth -- yet it is interesting to see that he reaches a similar conclusion about the origin of the Course as mainstream Christian authors have done. His analysis and critique of the Course is the most devastating I have read; he leaves very little standing.

Good spirits definitely exist, as do evil ones. How do we know which to trust? In 1 John 4:1-3 we receive the answer: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

VERDICT ON THE COURSE

The conclusion that some writers have reached is that Helen and Bill embarked on an experiment to make up a religion fashioned from different traditions they were familiar with. They succeeded and created a tidal wave of confused thinking masquerading as truth.

As Scott Johnson writes: "The Course was created in a veritable sea of deceit and fraud. If, however, we maintain the assumption that Shucman was completely sincere in her transcription, and it was indeed delivered to her by an inner voice, then we also can be fairly certain the source of that voice. We know that it certainly wasn't Jesus."

I agree with his conclusion. Helen started receiving inner dictation and Bill encouraged her to write down what it said. Helen knew it came from a source which she didn't trust -- that is why she wanted to "change everything." Bill, for reasons of his own, urged her to carry on with the writing. Things then got out of hand when others read the material and the Foundation for Inner Peace was established. Some of the people involved were no doubt sincere, others misguided and some truly deceptive if not evil.

The assertion that the Course originates from Jesus is totally unacceptable and is refuted by any study of early Christianity -- and this includes the Gospels, Paul's letters and early writings of the church fathers. Course proponent Ken Wapnick himself states that the Course and the Bible share no common ground.

To quote Wapnick: "The God that Jesus presents to us in A Course in Miracles does not even know about the separation, the world, the body, or individual personalities." What a bleak statement -- I can't imagine a wider gap with the personal God we know from the Bible.

Channeling is a highly dangerous and dubious practice which has resulted in amazing nonsense being printed, whilst being attributed to a wide array of spirit guides. Some of this may appear quite innocent, but it never is. The Course is exceptionally damaging because of the demonic "Jesus" spirit which dictated it to Helen. The words were dictated with a relentless persistence, allowing Helen no rest or escape. Small wonder then that she started to resent the process.

As the "Jesus" of the Course is not the Jesus of the Bible, then he is not the true Jesus at all, but the anti-Christ. So, the spirit or entity which dictated the Course to Helen was the great Deceiver himself. What a clever ploy, to trick people away from God, by pretending to be Jesus. Consider this: atheism is "so last year" -- the real threat to Christianity comes from made up New Age "religions" such as the Course.

The Course leads people astray instead of leading them back to God.

WHICH JESUS WILL YOU FOLLOW?

Even though I have now thrown out all my copies of the Course and associated books, and have deleted the ACIM software from my computer, I come across quotes from the COurse here and there. It chills me now to read those words and realise what is behind them.

There are some very good books available about the threat posed by New Age thinking and occult practices including A Course in Miracles. For example:

The Light That Was Dark by Warren Smith.

The book has the subtitle From the New Age to Amazing Grace. Warren and his wife were drawn into the New Age and then ACIM by a series of amazing events which appeared to indicate that nothing was happening by chance, and that they were on the right path. When his wife was the subject of an ongoing, sinister spiritual attack, Warren realised the the Course could not help them -- only God and Jesus could. Warren refers to the book by Joanna Michaelsen as described below.

In Warren's own words: "As Joy and I both had unknowingly plugged into the spirit world, we never realised that most of the voices we were listening to were part of the deception the real Jesus had warned about."

The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelsen.

In this book, Joanna describes her journey into the occult, as an assistant to a psychic surgeon in Mexico. With miracles, healings and visions (including apparitions of Jesus) taking place around her, she thought the work she was doing was inspired by God. However, she eventually found out how wrong she was and what evil she was exposing herself to -- and found her way to Christianity with the help of friends.

Joanna writes: "My words are not meant in any way as an attack, but as a desperate warning for us to recognise the 'wiles of the devil' so that we may be effective witnesses to the holiness and power of God."

If you want to read solid teaching about Christianity, I recommend two books.

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

Lee is an American journalist, who as an avowed atheist was challenged by his wife's conversion to Christianity. He set out to interview experts in the field, to find out whether there really was a case for Christ. It is a great book, which covers historical evidence for the crucifixion and the resurrection as well as many other topics. Lee's conclusion was: the Jesus of the Bible is real, and Lee himself also converted to Christianity.

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham in the UK.

If you have come to ACIM because you felt that Christianity offered you nothing, then read this book. Wright is an exceptional Biblical scholar who sets out the case for true hope. This is the best book on Christianity I have read so far. It is not an easy book, but worth the effort -- I have indeed found myself surprised by hope during the reading of this book. N. T. Wright also publishes books as Tom Wright which are more readable and are a good alternative.

IN CONCLUSION: PROTECTION FROM EVIL

Initally, I wavered between two views: either the Course was a fabrication by Helen's mind,and essentially written by her -- or the Course was demonically inspired. Both my understanding of the persistent way the "voice" dictated to a reluctant Helen, and my own experience of evil (since becoming a Christian and speaking up against the New Age in general, and the Course in particular) made it clear to me that the second option was the right one. I have felt under strong spiritual attack on numerous occasions which attacks were only deflected by applying the strategy recommended below.

When you feel under attack or pressure from demonic entities, say the following command out loud. I have used it a few times when it was necessary and the evil spirits had to choice but to obey. It is very powerful.

If only Helen had realised that she could so easily have stopped the dictation and reclaimed her freedom and sanity.

We still have that choice. Give to God any spiritual gifts or interests you have and ask Him to return to you only those which reflect His Will. You are in safe hands. Jesus is real and He continues to change the lives of millions around the world. Ensure you make the right choice.

AK Zwart

June 2009

Visit the Quote Page for a selection of quotes from books and articles critical of the Course; also included are quotes from N T Wright and C S Lewis which are relevant to anyone questioning their involvement in a Course in Miracles.