Book review
Spirit Wars
Full description of book:
Peter R. Jones, Spirit Wars: Pagan Revival in Christian America (Mukilteo, WA, USA: WinePress Publishing, 1997). ISBN 1-883893-74-7.
Review:
Entitled Spirit Wars, Dr. Peter Jones' book documents and exposes the New Spirituality and its growth in America (and through her, the world). After much research, Dr. Jones is convinced about the threat of this New Spirituality to the Church, and is concerned over the infiltration of this apostasy into the churches. Being a scholar of the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, Jones through his research sees many similarities of the New Spirituality with the Gnostic error, and seeks to warn the Church against this growing neo-pagan gnostic threat to her faith.
With copious endnotes and references, Jones seeks to prove his case that a pagan revival is underfoot in America, and how this anti-Christian movement has developed in its opposition to biblical truth. The movement has re-spawned the ancient pagan worldview, and this worldview is totally antithetical to the Christian worldview; the former is monistic, while the latter is theistic. The growth of this worldview however has impacted the Church, altering Christians' perspectives and compromising their beliefs on issues such as femininity and homosexuality among others.
The book is divided into two parts. Part one containing chapters 1-5 deals with the origin and purpose of the New Spirituality, and thus is more of a historical look at the revival in paganism in America, and its growth and metastasis in American society. Paganism in its core aspect of monism is defined by Jones according to five points (p. 26-28):
All is One and One is all
The essence of monism, this point of pagan monism states that God is not outside the universe (p. 26), but rather God is the universe, with everything including God within the circle, the symbol of monism.
Humanity is One
Since all is one, humanity is an expression of divine oneness, and thus each self is a source of truth (p. 27).
Religions are One
Since all is one, no religion can claim exclusive truth and all must blend together into a global, unified syncretism (p. 27).
One problem:
If all is one, the great problem is the splintering of reality into opposing camps; making distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, God and Satan, human and animal, male and female, homosexual and heterosexual, pagan and Christian, heresy and orthodoxy, reason and irrationality (p. 28)
One means of escape
Spiritual understanding through intuition and meditation is the only way to salvation. Such insight comes through a non-rational, mystical experience of seeing oneself as a [sic] the center of a circle that has no boundaries. From the center of its own limitless universe the self necessarily reigns supreme! ... Rightly practiced, such meditation enables the mind/soul to be disconnected from the limitations of the body. In the experience of this knowledge (gnosis) of the self as connected to the whole and thus divine, there occurs the liberating paradigm shift through which redemption of the self and the planet becomes possible.(p. 28)
After defining the essence of pagan monism, Jones continues showing the growth of this New Spirituality as they come through the Liberal "churches" or the Religious Left. Christian Liberalism, having destroyed the foundations of its historic faith, has declined, having given "few answers to spiritual needs" and "not produc[ing] a gospel capable of meeting the global expectations of a unified planet" (p. 37). Radicals within have embraced postmodernity with its methodology of deconstruction, which systematically destroys what Jones called the "four spiritual laws" of Secular Humanism: "biological evolutionism (found to have more holes than Swiss cheese and the ozone layer combined); existentialism (among whose fruits are Nazism and the Cambodian genocide of Pol Pot); Freudianism (which has produced more mental illness than it ever cured); and Marxism (a massively embarrassing social and economic failure that only survives, moribund, in China and Cuba)" (p. 38)
Having thus deconstructed all truths, Paganism stepped in to do its reconstructive work (p. 40). Nature abhors a vacuum, and mysticism which is perfectly in line with postmodernity fills the void left behind by the debunked theory of humanistic rationalism. The spread of the New Age movement or the New Spirituality within once rationalistic Liberalism increased by leaps and bounds, as Jones subsequently shows (p. 44-61). This New Spirituality however does not seem at all new, but seems rather to be the revival of ancient Gnosticism, a fact Jones attempts to preliminarily sketch out some of the similarities between the two (p. 64-78).
Part two of Jones' book has the heading Anatomy of an Apostasy. In this part, Jones decided to analyze the various aspects of the New Spirituality under various aspects, and contrasts it with ancient Gnosticism, thus proving their essential oneness in all but time (and people). Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the Gnostic source of authority, the Gnostic "Bible", which with the re-discovery of the Gnostic texts like for example the Nag Hammadi manuscripts links the two movements together. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss the topic of hermeneutic; chapters 10-11 discuss the nature of "god"; chapters 12-13 discuss the topic of sexuality, while chapters 14-15 discuss the topic of spirituality. Under these various themes, the ancient Gnostics' and the postmodern New Spiritualists' views are both put forth, compared and contrasted. Extensive endnotes show the amount of information backing up Jones' thesis in accurately representing both of these movements on these vital themes. Besides showing their essential oppositions to biblical truth on these themes, Jones successfully proved the ideological continuity between ancient Gnosticism and the New Spirituality, which should give us much cause for concern.
In his final concluding chapter Chapter 16, Jones ties the various threads of evidences together to paint a chilling picture of the growing threat of the New Spirituality. While many conservative Christians in America are engaging in the culture and even gender wars, an even more insidious and deadly threat is rising in the form of Neo-Paganism. As Jones wrote:
Beyond culture wars and gender wars are Spirit Wars. In this ultimate struggle for mastery, the pagan goddess Sophia seeks to usurp the place of God the Creator and Redeemer. This is not colorful hyperbole. The conflict is real, the protagonists irreconcilable. Sophia is the very opposite of the God of the Bible. She represents monism as God represents theism. Her all-encompassing, encircling womb gives expression to the pagan notion of the divinity of all things, while her name, Sophia, vaunts the human claim to wisdom. With exquisite subtlety she seduces the modern mind by claiming to be tolerant and non-dogmatic. In fact, she is neither, for behind the velvet gloves is an iron fist; behind the neopagan rejection of doctrine is a firm commitment to a non-negotiable dogmatic belief in the unity of all things to which humanity and the planet are ineluctably headed; and behind the tolerance is a global system of unimaginable totalitarian possibilities which cannot tolerate the discordant voice of biblical theism.
Utopian thinking and the pagan spiritual experience on which it is based obliterates the truth that there is a cosmic conflict, that there is a deep antithesis between the Law of God and the ways of fallen man. The new eschatology sees history moving to its appointed evolutionary rendezvous with human liberation and "redemption". Aided by a leap in consciousness, humanity will evolve from its present immaturity into a new world order of peace and love. Of course, people who attain a "leap in consciousness" cease to perceive the need for objective salvation. Virtual salvation through human engineering and pagan spirituality will do just fine. In such a utopia, breaking the spell by the preaching of the Cross will not be tolerated.
Pagan monism is, by its very nature, an all-inconclusive, totalitarian movement whose success depends upon total conformity to its view of peace. Its vision of a tolerant, all-inclusive world cannot tolerate those who believe in absolute truth, in ultimate right and wrong, and in differentiated creational structures. In the future "utopia" there will be "no place for truth." Surveying the totalitarian stance of the politically correct orthodoxy on university campus, Philip [E.] Johnson wonders if we are not being given a chilling preview of an era of "self-righteous bullying." With little ultimate harm, school bullies control the playground; adult bullies, in matching shirts, can turn a democracy into a police state, and wreck unimaginable harm on fellow human beings. The "Karma Patrol" of today could be the Great Inquisition of the Aquarian tomorrow.
(p. 253-254)
For people caught in the movement, all is not fine either. Christians will face persecution for being "intolerant" and for "hate crimes", while those who bought the lie are in bondage to evil. The promise of freedom is deceptive, with so-called freedom from God's Law leading to "diabolical chains" and "slavery to evil", them being slaves of corruption (2 Peter 2:19). As a repentant former member of a Wicca group has described:
When I was a witch, I performed rituals. I evoked spirits. I called entities. I case spells, burned candles, concocted brews.... But where did it lead to? Into darkness, depression and the creation of an aura of gloom around me. I was frequently under demon attack. The house where I lived was alive with poltergeist activity... due to residual "guests" from rituals. My friends and family were afraid of me. I knew I had no future; all I had was a dark present. I was always wanted. It wasn't Satan's fault. He didn't exist — or so I thought. I gave it all up, and came to Jesus on my knees.... He freed me from the oppression and gave me back my soul — the one I had so foolishly given to evil in exchange for power.... Our salvation was bought at a great price and all we have to do is reach out for it. But we cannot serve two masters.
[p. 255, citing Guerra, "The Practice of Witchcraft", as cited in Steichen, Ungodly Rage, 70-71]
Madame Blatvatsky, the founder of Theosophy, the historical precursor of the New Spirituality, once said these words, symptomatic of the powerful bondage of those who are deep in the practice of pagan monism:
I would gladly return. I would gladly be Russian, Christian, Orthodox. I yearn for it. But there is no returning. I am in chains; I am not my own.
[p. 256, citing James Webb, The Occult Establishment (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1976), 161]
The new spirituality indeed contains power, and it is a power that binds — with great chains.
The trouble with this freedom is that it is slavery to the powers of evil. Its glittering promise is the same old lie. Its wages lead to personal dissolution and death. But is a real lie, spoken by the Father of Lies. Those who hope to exploit it to serve ideological ends are, in the powerful image of Donna Steichen, like foolish, perverse, vulnerable children, playing with a plastic bomb as though it were Silly Putty. (p. 256)
Points of concern
In part two of the book, great swaths of the book read like a forensic investigation and exposé of ancient Gnosticism and New Spirituality. While this is good and necessary, it would be better if there was some interaction with biblical truths along the way, instead of having such at the end of a particular section, as reading tons of pagan perversion without a countering voice can sap one's spiritual strength along the way. This is especially so in the area of sexuality, which could become like a museum of pornography after some time.
The overt sexual perversion that is depicted in Gnostic sexuality is revolting, and has the potential to incite lust. While such is needed to show forth the utter perversion of Gnostic Sexuality, it is questioned if the presentation could be better nuanced such that more explicit detail can be placed in the endnote section or something like that. Lust is always an issue, and while no effort should be used to soft-sell the magnitude of sexual perversion Gnosticism engages in, the question is whether the topic could be nuanced better without compromising the portrayal. As an example of how sexually perverted the Gnostics were, Jones quoted from the fourth century church father Epiphanius:
the Borborians [a Gnostic cult] began their Lord's Supper with a gastronomical agape, a lavish meal accompanied by plenty of wine. Then followed "the Agape with the brother," in which married couples split up and had intercourse with other members of the group. Since conceiving would be imprisonment in the structures of the Creator, coitus interruptus was practiced. The male emission was then held heavenward with the prayer: "This is the body of Christ," and then eaten. If a woman were to become pregnant, the fetus was aborted, and eaten, accompanied by the prayer: "We were not mocked by the archon of lust, but have gathered the brother's blunder up." This they called "the perfect Passover".
(p. 242, citing Epiphanius, Panarion, 2:26:4, 3-5, 9)
Conclusion
In conclusion, this book by Jones is indeed an excellent book detailing and warning of the emerging Zeitgeist of Pagan Monism, tying in the various threads of the culture and gender wars and showing the impetus behind movements such as the Homosexual agenda and Feminism. It has copious references and facts, and is ever more needed in an age where gnostic ideas run rampant.