What do 49 of the most common new religions and cults believe about the deity of Christ?

By: Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon; ©1996

This article lists some of the worlds “new religions” beliefs concerning the deity of Christ.

 

The individuals listed are the founders and/or prominent leaders of the group specified. Although some quotations are not by the individual listed, they are still taken from the group’s authoritative literature.

Anthroposophy (Rudolph Steiner): “[Jesus]….must be designated in the truest sense of the word as a ‘mere man’….”

Association for Research and Enlightenment (Edgar Cayce): “He is an ensample [sic example] for man, and only as a man, for He lived only as a man, He died as man.”

Astara (Earlyne Chaney): Jesus is “the Master Mystic of all time” who realized the Christ, a state of higher consciousness. Jesus is not the Savior from sin and only incarnation of God.

The Baha’i Faith (The Bab; Baha’u’llah): “Jesus was not the only-begotten Son of God come down from Heaven, crucified and resurrected, nor the unique Saviour.”

The Christadelphians (John Thomas) “Jesus Christ did not exist as a person from eternity as one of the triune Godhead…..He did not actually come into being until He was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born in Bethlehem.”

Christian Science (Mary Baker Eddy): “Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus Himself declared, but is the Son of God.”

The Christian Spiritual Alliance (Roy Eugene Davis): “Jesus was not the only begotten.”

Church of the New Jerusalem (Emanuel Swedenborg): “This [belief in the Trinity] is the source and only source from which have sprung monstrous heresies concerning God….[and] introduced into the church…..death as well.”

Church Universal and Triumphant (Elizabeth Claire Prophet): “God the Father did not require the sacrifice of His son Christ Jesus or of any other incarnation of the Christ, as atonement for the sins of the world….”

The Divine Life Society/Integral Yoga Institute (Sivananda/Satchidananda): “Remember that Christ is not a person. It’s an experience—Christhood. Like Nirvana or Buddha. It’s an experience….”

Divine Science (Nona Brooks): “Someone has said that the greatest discovery of the nineteenth century was Jesus Christ. He was rediscovered and rescued from the superstitious misconceptions regarding him, in which he was thought of as a superman of extraordinary powers which were and ever would be beyond the rank and file of the race…..”

Eckankar (Paul Twitchell): “do not put Him [Jesus] in a special category, for all saviours and prophets who came to earth to help mankind did their part and passed on to the glory of the heavenly kingdom….”

The Foundation of Human Understanding (Roy Masters): “You must not have any concepts of what Christ is like or God is like. It all must be an inward revelation process.”

The Free Communion Church (Da Free John): “The conventional cultic and exoteric interpretation of the life and person of Jesus considers him to be an exclusive manifestation of God, representing a history, a way of life, and a destiny that no one else can enjoy or duplicate…..Such was absolutely not the point of view of Jesus himself.”

The Gurdjieff Foundation (Gurdjieff): “[In a conversation]….Gurdjieff said: ‘I hate your Jesus, poor Jewish boy’—the emphasis being on ‘your.’”

The Hanuman Foundation (Ram Dass): “I have a relative [a brother] who is in a mental hospital. He thinks he is Christ. Well, that’s groovy. I am Christ also….as far as I’m concerned we are all God.”

The Himalayan Institute (Swami Rama): “The Christ is your Soul and you should learn to see Him in all beings…..”

The Holy Order of Mans (Paul Blighton): “The Master Jesus never made any claims for himself…..[He] was a man, and through discipline and striving became receptive enough for the Christ force to enter and change him.”

Integral Yoga (Sri Aurobindo): “If Jesus returned today, He would not recognize in Christianity what He Himself taught.”

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada): “Christ’s claim to be the only son of God is often misunderstood…..When Jesus Christ taught His doctrine in the Middle East, he appeared to be God’s only son, or pure devotee…..[But] why should God have only one son?….God can have billions and trillions of sons and….each and every one can be His ‘only’ son.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses (Charles Taze Russell): “The incarnation is scripturally erroneous. Indeed, if he (Christ) had been an incarnate being, he could never have redeemed mankind.”

Love Family (The Children of God) (David Berg): “No reason why He [Jesus] shouldn’t enjoy the sexual fellowship of Mary and Martha! AND HE DID BECAUSE I SAW MARY MAKING LOVE TO HIM in a vision.”

Lucis Trust (Alice Bailey): “The Incarnation, which is for popular Christianity synonymous with the historical birth and earthly life of Christ, is for the mystic not only this but also a perpetual cosmic and personal process.”

The Masonic Lodge: A former Mason reports “Freemasonry ‘carefully excludes’ the Lord Jesus Christ from the lodge and chapter, repudiates His mediatorship, rejects His atonement, denies and disowns His Gospel, frowns upon His religion and His church, ignores the Holy Spirit….”

Mighty I AM (Guy Ballard—pen name Godfre Ray King): [alleged revelation from Jesus] “I [Jesus] wish it distinctly understood by all who may receive this or ever contact it, that I am not and never was a Special Being created of God different from the rest of humanity!”

Mormonism (Joseph Smith): “Christ is the firstborn spirit Son in the eternal family, and while yet in pre-existence he advanced and progressed and became like the Father in power and intelligence; that is, he became a God.”

New Thought: “We revere Jesus the man….as one who exemplified….the great Principle of perfection and wholeness. Jesus was a Way-Shower—the Savior—in the sense that He drew us out of our limitations.”

Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (Daisaku Ikeda): “The doctrines of the divinity and the resurrection of Christ are outside the province of rational thought…..Christians are schizophrenic…..”

Radhasoami/Radhaswami/Radha Soami (Charan Singh; Sawan Singh Ji): “Actually there is no statement in the New Testament, except possibly one or two interpolations, in which Jesus makes any claim to an exclusive divine sonship. This idea was not incorporated into the Christian religion until long after his death.”

Rajneesh Foundation International (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh): “To tell you the truth, Jesus is a mental case….He is a fanatic. He carries the same kind of mind as Adolf Hitler. He is a fascist. He thinks that only those who follow him will be saved.”

Rosicrucianism (AMORC) (H. Spencer Lewis): “Nowhere in the teachings and practices of Jesus can we find the least intimation that His great system was intended to bring salvation to the physical body of man. Even the salvation of the soul was not taught by Jesus, and all references in the Christian Bible to the salvation of the soul constitute a misinterpretation, a misunderstanding, of the secret [Rosicrucianism] principle that Jesus taught.”

Rudrananda Foundation (Swami Rudrananda; Rudi): In Spiritual Cannibalism Jesus is described as “a god,” a “realized” man, like Buddha and other teachers.

Ruhani Satsang (Kirpal Singh): “Everyone is under the impression that Jesus Christ remains forever. The Christ Power remains forever [not Jesus]; but they [Christians] identify Christ with Jesus, the [solely] human pole, which is not right.”

Sai Baba Society (Sathya Sai Baba): “The inner mystery of the Incarnation [is] God incarnating in all. All are One; the One is All.”

Science of Mind (Ernest Holmes): “Jesus is the name of a man. Christ means the Universal Principle of Divine Sonship.”

Scientology (L. Ron Hubbard): “Neither Lord Buddha nor Jesus Christ were OTs [that is, Operation Thetans, enlightened beings] according to the evidence. They were just a shade above clear [that is, relatively low on the Scientology scale of spiritual advancement].”

Self-Realization Fellowship (Paramahansa Yogananda): “In Christian Scriptures it [Christ] is called the ‘only begotten son’…..It is the universal consciousness, oneness with God, manifested by Jesus, Krishna, and other avatars.”

3 HO Sikhism (Yogi Bhajan): Jesus was a man of God only who had to become qualified for his spiritual role; he didn’t know if Joseph was his father and his mother created “her son to really be a Christ,” but not a savior.

Sri Chinmoy Centers (Sri Chinmoy): “To say that Christ is the Savior and the only way to salvation is a mistake…..He laughs when His followers say He is the only Savior.”

Tibetan Buddhism (Chogyam Trungpa): “Any kind of savior notion will not function a hundred percent…” Worshipping a “deity of any kind” is “the wrong way” and taking refuge in a Father God “is truly self-defeating.”

Theosophy (H. P. Blavatsky): “Nowhere throughout the New Testament is Jesus found calling himself God, or anything higher than ‘a son of God,’ the son of a ‘Father,’ common to all.”

Transcendental Meditation (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi): “[When] Christ said, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ [He also meant] ‘Be still and know that you are God.’” And, “I don’t think Christ ever suffered [on the cross]…..Those who count upon the suffering, it is a wrong interpretation of the life of Christ and the message of Christ. It is wrong.”

The Unification Church (Sun Myung Moon): “It is a great error to think Jesus was God Himself. Jesus is no different from other men.”

Unitarian/Universalism: Unitarian Universalist minister Waldemar Argow states: “They [Unitarian/Universalists] do not regard him as a supernatural creature, the literal son of God who was miraculously sent to earth as part of an involved plan for the salvation of human souls.”

Unity School of Christianity (Charles Fillmore): “Most of our religious beliefs are based on the [erroneous] idea that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.”

Vedanta: Swami Prabhavananda alleges we “cannot accept Christ as the only Son of God. Those who insist on regarding the life and teachings of Jesus as unique are bound to have great difficulty in understanding them.”

The Walk (John Robert Stevens and the Church of the Living Word): “The Lord puts you through a process that will bring you into sonship, into deity….God becoming man means nothing unless we become God, unless we become lost in Him.”

The Way International (Victor Paul Wierwille): “Trinitarian dogma placing Jesus Christ on God’s level degrades God and leaves man UNREDEEMED!” (advertisement for Wierwille’s book, Jesus Christ Is Not God) and “Our very redemption….is dependent on Jesus Christ’s being a man and not God.”

The Yoga Fellowship (Swami Kriyananda): “What is Christ? St. Simeon the new theologian wrote, ‘I move my hand, and Christ moves, who is my hand.’”

Zen Buddhism: The Gospel According to Zen quotes Meister Eckhart: “Who is Jesus? He has no name” and “Jesus” declares, “split wood: I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.”

Almost all of the aforesaid groups actually claim they accept and honor Jesus Christ. But in light of what we have just read, this is impossible. In fact, such groups (there are hundreds more) completely disregard the biblical Jesus and only reinvent Christ to make Him support their own beliefs. This is hardly being fair to Christianity, let alone Jesus.