Discourse 116 – Pantheism – does God manifest himself in his entire creation?

Does God manifest himself in his entire creation?/ Commentary JF, 00, 2013-12-13

The Wittek sect ("Universal Life").

The eternal existence of every human being.

The biblical Trinity and some other specifics of the biblical Christian faith.

Where can God be found?

The true believer

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Dear Mr. JF,

Thank you for your visit to Immanuel.at and for your friendly comments.

You are quite right, no one has ever brought this topic to my attention on Immanuel.at before, so I haven’t ever written anything about either. One of the reasons probably was that this doctrine is of course not new, being well known as "pantheism" in theological circles.

Pantheism

WIKIPEDIA has an excellent summary of pantheism across the centuries (my emphases, FH):

The expression "pantheism" (from the Ancient Greek pan = all and theós = God) refers to the view that God is one with the cosmos and with nature. The divine is seen in the organization and structure of the universe, which is investigated by the practices of natural science. This means that there is no such thing as a personified, almighty God. (…)

Already in antiquity the Pre-Socratics developed a philosophy of nature incorporating soul and the divine. Plato’s cosmology of the world soul also has pantheistic elements. The Neoplatonist Plotinus stressed the Universal One, which makes him a direct precursor of the pantheists. The Stoics regarded the Logos as the universal principle of reason, the divine, which was also present in every human being. In the Middle Ages occasional pantheistic tendencies are found, following on from Plotinus, e.g. in Nicholas of Cusa. In early modern times Giordano Bruno saw the divine as a part of the eternal cosmos, whereby divinity manifested itself in all things. (…)

Alongside this philosophically inclined pantheism, we find similar views in the theology of the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who in the early part of the 20th century presented first attempts at a synthesis of faith and knowledge, creation and evolution and of God and the world.

Apart from the fact that all these thinkers (including the Catholic priest Teilhard de Chardin) were not Christian believers and had not studied the Bible - at most Teilhard de Chardin would have studied the Catholic catechism - their views and theses taken as a whole rely exclusively on worldly thinkers of the past, and do their best to avoid contradicting the received academic dogmas currently in vogue.

Thus the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) also criticized pantheism as "a euphemism for atheism": "A non-personal God is not a God at all, just abuse of a word" – in "Parerga and Paralipomena" I/1, p. 131. And if there is one thing that Richard Dawkins gets right in his book "The God Delusion", it is his judgment that pantheism is just "sexed-up atheism".

But this criticism from the worldly angle is not necessarily convincing on the level of Christian faith. So what we need here is a fundamental analysis of the doctrinal basis of pantheism in the light of the Bible, if we are to deliver a biblically grounded judgment and – as the commentator above writes – be in a position to refute this doctrine.

Now in view of their principal tenet that "divinity reveals itself in all things" (along with the corollary resulting that there is no such thing as a personal God), the pantheists have chosen to opt out of the Judeo-Christian basis for the understanding of God – and so of the Bible!

That is probably also the reason why this doctrine has almost fallen into oblivion in the last 100 years or so. The academic establishment has rejected pantheism as pseudoscientific hokum, while the Christian churches have classified it as a worldly philosophical approach and so ignored it. 

That is true at least of pantheism in its original form. But as with all religions, here too there are various currents of thought which accept the Bible (the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount) to some extent. Jesus Christ is designated as the "Christ (the Anointed) of God", but his divinity is contested. Common to all these ways of thinking, however, is the non-personal God, who "reveals himself in his entire creation".

(See also Discourse 107: "The denial of the Trinity, the false Catholic Trinity and the true biblical Trinity.")

The Wittek sect ("Universal Life / UL")

These tendencies also include the "Universal Life" sect ("UL" for short), which has become better known in recent years by being represented in the media on two television channels at once. This originates with the soi-disant "prophetess" Gabriele Wittek who comes from Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany. Worldwide the movement has some 100,000 members, ca. 40,000 of them in Germany. 

Ms. Wittek has "adapted" the Hindu/Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation for her own purposes, and teaches the immortality of the soul on a pseudochristian basis. A detailed explanation of this complex of problems can already be found at Immanuel.at in Discourse 22.

(See also Discourse 22: "Is there such a thing as the immortality of the soul?")

As Discourse 22 demonstrates, this teaching of Ms. Wittek’s - of the repeated rebirth of human beings, and the seven "levels of purification" – is in direct contradiction of the entire Bible, which only recognizes one sole rebirth at the end of the world at Resurrection and Last Judgment (Mt 19:28) which is from the spirit (Jn 3:7-8)and not from the soul.

All living beings with circulation of the blood have a soul, as according to the Bible the soul is the blood (Lev 17:14). So if the soul were to continue to exist after death, all animals with circulation of the blood would also have to rise again after their death. Presumably in that case the seven "levels of purification" of which Ms. Wittek speaks would hardly be sufficient to accommodate all these animals.

I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with and with every living soul that is with you.

Gen 9,9 "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 9,10 and with every living soul that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 9,11 "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." Gen 9, 9-11; 

Ms. Wittek’s principal work is entitled "Mein Wort. Alpha und Omega. Das Evangelium Jesu" ["My Word. Alpha and Omega. The Gospel of Jesus"]. It is a message transmitted to her from the universe. In this "message from the universe", she claims that our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to her and gave her the task of propagating this new doctrine:

"It is my Word, which has been revealed and is revealed through the mouth of my prophetess (i.e. Gabi Wittek, FH), who is at the same time the messenger of God."

When we look more closely at this work with a view to assessing its plausibility, we find ourselves confronted just a little way further on with a somewhat astonishing statement emanating from this "Jesus" (my emphasis, FH):

"The light, the I Am, is stronger. Understand that I Am the light of the world, which is not tied to time. The light penetrates time and space and will make all things new. The time is coming in which there will no longer be any possibility for the Finsterling [darkness-grumbler] of going either forward or back. Nothing will remain but capitulation and – as for every individual human being and every soul – an about-face into the light, the I Am."

Although Ms. Wittek rejects the Bible on the supposed grounds of its being "dangerous reading for young people", she repeatedly uses terms lifted from the Bible, such as "I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12, 9:5) or the "I Am" (Ex 3:14). The above text too is supposed to emanate from Jesus, and here he refers to the devil as the "Finsterling" [darkness-grumbler].

Now as we know, our Lord Jesus Christ called the Antagonist by various names - "dragon, old serpent, devil, Satan" (Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2). "Finsterling" [darkness-grumbler] however never formed part of his vocabulary – this is clearly a new term coined by the Bavarian would-be prophetess Gabi Wittek.

And we find a very similar picture when we look at the following passage (my emphases, FH):

The Kingdom of Peace is dawning. Christ brings it to pass today as follows: "Know that I will come in the spirit to my people – though not any longer in the envelope of the flesh. If one says, Here is Christ or There is Christ, remember that I have told you before. I will not come any more in the flesh. As Jesus I took on flesh for you and overcame it for you, so that you too can overcome it through Me, the Christ, and you too can obtain the resurrection and the spiritual rebirth, and so too union with God, My and your Fa"

In these statements by the "Christ", the latter refers to himself as "Jesus": "As Jesus I took on flesh for you". Not only is it the case that our Lord never referred to himself as "Jesus" while he was alive, he revealed the fact that he was in this world as a human being much more elegantly in a single succinct term: he called himself "the Son of Man". And that said it all!

These are typical examples of the way in which false prophets like this, of whatever persuasion, give themselves away. By contrast with this "Jesus" of Ms. Wittek’s, the true Christ in the Bible tells us that every individual human being – whether good or evil – will obtain rebirth from the spirit in the resurrection from the dead (Jn 3:6-8).

So this is not a "special dispensation" for those who overcome, as the above text by Gabi Wittek insinuates, but rather a system-immanent necessity of the eternal life of every individual human being. The separation of the just from the unjust, and their departure to their eternal destination in either case, will only happen thereafter, at the Last Judgment

The eternal existence of every human being.

The biblical Trinity and some other specifics of the biblical Christian faith.

(See also Chapter 13: "The Last Judgment.")

So if Ms. Wittek has not concocted all these stories herself, then at the very least it must be a false Christ – one unfamiliar with the plan of God for humanity – who has filled her head with all this baloney. This is clearly evident not only from the way in which her statements contradict the Bible, but also in view of the internal contradictions to be found in the statements themselves.

Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him.

Mt 24,23 "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24,24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 24,25 "Behold, I have told you in advance. Mt 24,23-25;

The basis of her company "Gut zum Leben – Nahrungsmittel von Feld und Hof GmbH" ["Good for Life – Foodstuffs from Field and Farm & Co. Ltd."] is trading in vegetarian and vegan food products. And just as the Catholic church, in the Italy of former times, tried to boost the turnover of its fish business by ordaining that Friday should be a day for abstaining from meat, so too we find Ms. Wittek’s doctrine involves the promotion of vegetarian and vegan diet.

Thus she also teaches that human beings, animals and plants, as living beings, are all "brothers and sisters", and consequently – as she claims - God forbade the eating of meat in the Bible and did not want animal sacrifice. Both these assertions are false – God commanded Noah to eat meat, and Moses to sacrifice animals – but this is something that Ms. Wittek doesn’t tell her readers and listeners.

Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you;

Gen 9,1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 9,2 "The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 9,3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 9,4 "Only you shall not eat flesh with its soul, that is, its blood. Gen 9, 1- 4;

You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen.

Ex 20,22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 20,23 ‘You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. 20,24 ‘You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. 20,25 ‘If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. Ex 20,22-25;

And then Ms. Wittek gets so carried away as to assert that Jesus was a vegetarian and refused to eat animal flesh. Evidently she hasn’t ever read the biblical story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, where the Lord sated the hunger of this crowd with five loaves and two fishes (Mt 14:13-21), or that of the Feeding of the Four Thousand, whom he satisfied with seven loaves and a few small fishes (Mt 15:32-39).

But of course the Lord himself ate animal flesh. The Last Supper was the Passover (Pesach) of the Jews. This festival was celebrated by the Jews every year in commemoration of their liberation from Egypt. And just as in the past in Egypt, so right up to the present day this festival involves the eating of a lamb – the Passover lamb. At this last meal before his death, the Lord bade the disciples prepare the Passover meal:

Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?

Mk 14,12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 14,13 And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; 14,14 and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"‘ 14,15 "And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there." 14,16 The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. Mk 14,12-16;

And after his death and his resurrection he appeared in midst of the disciples, the doors having been shut, and they were frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit, and so he ate a piece of a broiled fish as proof that he is a not a ghost.

They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them.

Lk 24,36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be to you." 24,37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 24,38 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 24,39 "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 24,40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 24,41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 24,42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 24,43 and He took it and ate it before them. Lk 24,36-43;

So we can see perfectly clearly that the doctrines which this self styled "prophetess of God" communicates to her disciples have nothing whatever to do with the relevant biblical statements or with the life of the real Christ, and so are evidently just her own inventions.

The various speakers representing the sect in the television programs, however, who taken all in all make an altogether intelligent impression, are apparently unable or unwilling, for whatever reason, to read the Bible themselves. Thus they babble this nonsense about the biblical ban on meat eating in parrot fashion, so rendering themselves laughable (at least in the eyes of Christians who know their Bible) and depriving their other utterances as well of any kind of credibility.

It is a similar picture with the Catholic Church, which has falsified God’s commandments, so as to deceive the believers. It suppressed the second commandment (Ex 20:4-6), so as to hush up the fact that worship paid to idols made of stone and wood (the saints and madonnas) is expressly forbidden in the second of these Ten Commandments given by God.

Seeing that, as a result of the suppression of the second commandment, only nine commandments were left, the Catholic Church supplemented this act of heresy with another act of betrayal, by splitting up the tenth commandment (Ex 20,17) given by God into two separate commandments (Table: The ten Commandments of God and those of the Catholic Church).

And a similar falsification is the assertion of the Wittek disciples that God never appointed priests in the Old Testament. Anyone who has read the Bible knows that this is complete nonsense. As we find it stated in Numbers, God chose the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, as assistants to Aaron (whom God himself calls a "priest"), to perform duties in the tent of meeting, and later in the Temple.  

Bring the tribe of Levi near, they shall perform the duties for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting.

Num 3,6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.
3,7 "They shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. Num 3, 6- 7;

I have given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting.

Num 8,18 "But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.
8,19 "I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary." Num 8,18-19;

With reference to the New Testament, these people then state quite correctly that Jesus did not appoint priests. But they then immediately proceed to a blanket criticism of all Christian churches for falsification of the Bible on the grounds that they appoint priests. And although this may be altogether justified with reference to the Catholic church and its clerical hierarchy, extending as far as the Pope, it is nonetheless interesting that the Wittek sect goes to quite painful lengths to avoid mentioning the Catholic church in this connection. 

But the reason why our Lord Jesus Christ did not appoint priests – and certainly did not appoint any "Holy Father"! (Mt 23:9) – does not lie in the fact that he did not want priests at all, but rather, as Peter tells us in his first letter, because every correctly believing Christian is a priest and true Christianity is itself a royal priesthood.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people, a people for God’s own possession,

1Pet 2,5 You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 2,6 For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a choice ctone, s precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed" 2,7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone stone," 2,8 and, "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 2,9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1Pet 2, 5- 9;

So when adherents of the sect say that the Christian churches have falsified and reinterpreted the Word of God, we can certainly agree with them where the Catholic church is concerned¹⁾ But Gabi Wittek and her disciples would be advised to practice some self-criticism here, for as we can see, they too falsify the Word of God to suit themselves.

As has been sufficiently demonstrated, Ms. Wittek has built up her business with hundreds of millions of euros²⁾ coming from credulous donors, and she has also been able to buy up those landed estates in Bavaria (Gut Greussenheim) that she calls the "Land of Peace", adding up to something like 50 hectares. She has restored this gigantic area to nature in the most exemplary way, some of it being used for forest. The sect also maintains an animal center on its organic farm, run by exceptionally committed staff who work to help animals in need in exemplary style.

These endeavors would indeed be important and admirable, above all in today’s climate, if only they were not vitiated by a certain strategy of spiritual deception. For this "Kingdom of Peace" is by no means unselfseeking, seeing that Ms. Wittek uses it to confirm the truth of her own "prophecies".

So she is evidently referring to this "Kingdom of Peace" ("our kingdom") when she reinterprets and rewrites the Lord’s Prayer as follows:

This version of the Our Father was formulated by Ms. Wittek on the basis of an alleged "revelation of the spirit of our heavenly Father of 19 July 1986". And here it is not the Kingdom of God ("your kingdom"), i.e. the Millennial Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God on earth, whose coming is being prayed for, but the "Kingdom of Peace" of the Wittek sect ("our kingdom"), which incidentally has already arrived, as the other textual alterations indicate.

(See also Chapter 10: "The Millennium.")

This new Our Father no longer expresses a request, a wish – as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to do – but just makes an assertion that all these things are happening already – evidently in the "Kingdom of Peace" of the Wittek sect, that is to say. (www.sektenfragen.de)

And at the end of the prayer, where the Christian churches pray "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory", Gabi Wittek and her disciples pray: "For ours is the kingdom and the power and the glory". So they – and not God – possess both the "kingdom" and the power and the glory.

And this is not just an unparalleled case of hubris, in fact it is theft as well. Here, where we should find praise of the power and the glory of God, Gabi Wittek and her disciples praise themselves as possessors of this power and glory. Together with the judgment of the Administrative Court of the "totalitarian structure" in the sect there is here a certain similarity that can be made out with the "People’s Temple" sect of Jim Jones!

Now although Ms. Wittek disapproves of the slaughter and consumption of animals, nonetheless she has stalls and branches in over 60 German cities (Is a sect taking over the organic market?, online article by Werner Paczian) where she sells cabbage heads and other vegetables, which according to her doctrine are likewise our "brothers and sisters". But her employees have guillotined these "brothers and sisters" by cutting the "head" off the cabbage and so slaughtering their brethren! Here we can see clearly that this aspect of her teaching, unfortunately, is only designed to maximize corporate profits (vegetarians and vegans are naturally going to eat more vegetables).

This also becomes plain when we look into the sect’s supposedly animal friendly ideology with a somewhat more critical eye. When it comes to domestic animals – just think of all the cats living in the country, not to mention farm animals like sheep, pigs, cattle etc. – they would soon be faced with famine on a worldwide scale, if all their descendants were left alive. As one who has farmed sheep as a sideline in the past, I can confirm the truth of this.

And of course the same is true of wild animals – a misconceived notion of animal conservation can result in catastrophic results for an entire country, as for example in Botswana, Africa, where elephants, since they became a protected species, are just swamping the country. Botswana has a population of 150,000 elephants, a quarter of all the pachyderms of the continent (that is 50 elephants per square kilometer).

In view of the practically insatiable hunger and thirst of the world’s biggest land mammal (they need up to 200 kilos of plant material and at least 200 liters of water a day), their environment is being confronted with insoluble problems. Even the most committed elephant lovers are now warning people that successful elephant conservation is threatening here to turn into a disaster.

Now it is unlikely that the people looking after animals at the "Gabriele Foundation" (a kind of holding company of Ms. Wittek’s business), who have to do with all species of animal (and their offspring!!) on a daily basis, should be ignorant of this. But this is not something that people are being told. And here again we are compelled to ask why it is that no one uses their thinking apparatus in order to recognize that here God himself in his creation has pointed the way, by encouraging all animals to be fruitful and multiply.

It is true enough that human beings have not lived up to the responsibilities God gave them in relation to the animal world. Anyone who has seen how animals are slaughtered, like the baby seals just a few weeks old who are clubbed to death by thousands in the Arctic (in April 2013 the toll was 10,304 in three days!), or who has seen how farm animals like cows are treated, when they are unloaded from trucks – suspended by one leg, still living, from a crane – to be delivered to the abbattoir, will recognize the complete brutality and callousness of godless humanity in its treatment of animals.

   

So people who opt for a vegetarian diet are not only doing good to animals in distress, they are probably also benefiting their own health. This, however, must be a decision for the individual. But to lure people into a sect by using love of animals as an argument, forcing them to work in a "totalitarian structure" (in the words of a judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of Bavaria) and to threaten them with dire consequences if they leave the sect (as former members of the sect confirm) – from a Christian point of view all this is absolutely reprehensible and must be rejected totally.

Even if Ms. Wittek comes across as an altogether friendly and modest person in her television broadcasts, her spiritual arrogance is nonetheless such that she has nothing against her company lawyer, Dr. Christian Sailer, publishing a book in which he sees her – Gabi Wittek – as the biblical "woman in heaven" of Rev 12:1-6.

This biblical prophecy referring to Israel (twelve stars for the twelve tribes of Israel), the people from whom our Lord Jesus Christ was born – which the Catholic church reinterprets as its "Mother of God" – has nothing at all in common either with the idol "Mary" of the Catholic church or with the false prophet who is Gabriele Wittek. 

Now, however, people breaking away from this Wittek sect of "Universal Life (UL)" (formerly known as the "Heimholungswerk" or "Repatriation Initiative") have formed a movement – likewise in Bavaria, in the vicinity of Würzburg, the home base of UL – and established a new sect, calling themselves "Liebe-Licht-Kreise" ["Love and Light Groups"].

In this they are clearly endeavoring to combat this false prophetess with her own weapons, and speak allegedly to and with the same spirit with whom Ms. Wittek speaks, the "Christ God Spirit". And this same "Christ God Spirit", as it turns out, has communicated to them a message for the "beloved sister" Gabi Wittek

"(…) But now, My beloved sister, the time is past, and I call you to conversion. For the HEIMHOLUNGSWERK JESU CHRISTI [REPATRIATION INITIATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST] is a purely spiritual movement and all botched external efforts will fall into dust, but, My beloved sister, love endures for ever. And so I call on you full of longing, in unity with the FATHER, calling on you to convert."

Here, if not before, any seriously believing Christian will become aware of the absurdity of this bandying back and forth of messages, and if it were not such a serious matter, we could indeed have a good laugh at these gross attempts on the part of both sides to persuade the general public that they are in communication with our Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.

Mt 24,4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 24,5 "For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. Mt 24, 4- 5;

But regrettably both sides – like all such impostures with "new revelations", "new prophecies", "meetings with Jesus" which are not found in the Bible – overlook the fact that they are committing the biggest mistake of their lives. What they are perpetrating here is the sin against the Holy Spirit!

Such a state of affairs always comes about when the effects of the Holy Spirit are presented as the effects of impure spirits or demons – or vice versa, when the effects of impure spirits (or purely and simply the actions of deceitful persons) are presented as the effects of the Holy Spirit.

And just this is the sin which can never be forgiven. All – really all - other sins can be forgiven, if the sinner converts by coming to faith in Jesus Christ, repenting and asking God for forgiveness. Only this one sin can never, ever be forgiven.

But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him.

Mt 12,31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 12,32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Mt 12,31-32;

(See also Discourse 64: "What is the sin against the Holy Spirit?")

Finally just a short note on the way in which these and similar "revelations" can easily be unmasked. It is just a few small things which reveal that these people are not speaking the truth. So for example they claim that the Lord has introduced himself to them as "Jesus of Nazareth". But any Christian believer knows that our Lord never referred to himself as "Jesus of Nazareth". When he spoke about himself, he called himself "Son of God" (for instance Jn 11:4) or Son of man" (for instance Mt 9:6). 

But in her prophecies Ms. Wittek calls the Lord "Jesus the Christ", in her "Universal Life" manifesto (Universelles-Leben.org) she refers to him 21 times as "Jesus of Nazareth", once just as "Jesus", once as "Jesus, a sectarian" (from the point of view of the Jews) and once as "the inner physician and healer Christ" – but not one single time does she call him her Lord. And in this connection the Bible tells us:

No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

1Cor 12,3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 1Cor 12, 3;

So nobody who is unable to call the Son of God his or her Lord can be a genuine Christian. Thus Ms. Wittek too gives evidence of the fact that she is not a real Christian, so her "prophecies" must be either her own invention or else suggested to her by an unclean spirit. 

Where can God be found?

In conclusion, we would like to test the plausibility of the doctrine of pantheism in the light of the Bible: is "God one with the cosmos and nature" and is "divinity revealed in all things", which of course would have the consequence that "there is no such thing as a personified almighty God"? – Or is God a person, with quite personal characteristics?

And here we can literally start from "Adam and Eve". The Bible tells us that God created man in his own image or appearance.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.

Gen 1,27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen 1,27;

So if God created man in his own image, and if the pantheists were to be correct in their view that God is integrated with all things and so is not a person, then human beings could not be persons either but would have to be integrated with all things – people, animals, plants and stones. – But the reality is perhaps a little different. Not even the pantheists would want to dispute that.

And it is clear that this state of God as a person was not just the case at the creation of man, but will also remain until the end of time, if we look at what our Lord Jesus Christ told us while he was still alive:

Hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the Power.

Mt 26,64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."  Mt 26,64; (Ps 110:1; Rom 8:3; Eph 1:20)

Two thousand years ago, then, God (the Power) must still have been a person, otherwise he could not be sitting in heaven. And the Son would presumably have had quite a tough assignment if he had been obliged to look for the Father "in all things" before being able to sit at his right hand.

And we likewise have confirmation from the Bible that this remains the case to the present day and will still be so in eternity:

But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.

Ps 102,25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 102,26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. 102,27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end. Ps 102,26-28;

So objectively speaking we must agree that the critics of pantheism are correct when they say that

We would be happy to add at this juncture that the doctrine of pantheism thus only meets with acceptance from worldly philosophers, if it were not for Teilhard de Chardin – a Catholic priest who has helped to disseminate this kind of nonsense.

From the biblical point of view we must point out that on the basis of this doctrine, involving a God who is present "in all things" – people, animals, plants, stones – the worship of God would at the same time, clearly, be the worship of creatures. It was people like this to whom Paul was referring in his letter to the Romans: ‘For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Rom 1:22-28)

The true believer

So-called "Christian" pantheist currents of whatever kind are to be judged in much the same way as most other Christian denominations of this world today. They can be compared with the different gangs of the Mafia, who try to get as many people as possible under their influence in order to extort "protection money" from them. 

This is particularly evident in the Catholic church of our day – and that after centuries! But some other churches, congregations and Christian organizations as well, while they claim to be concerned to "protect" people from unbelief, actually in many cases only aspire to power and influence so that they will be in a position to shear their "sheep" in grandiose style.

Among the church’s adherents there will then be some people with rather mixed motivation, who dedicate themselves to this objective and rise to become leaders and authorities in their respective denominations (like cardinals and bishops in the Catholic church). But on the other hand we will also find people who are completely taken in by this strategy, or who are just too complacent to unmask these false doctrines in the light of the Bible (Mt 7:16-18).

And as with the Mafia, in these organizations too critics are "executed". In the Catholic church they are excommunicated, and in many other denominations they are excluded and treated with contempt. And instead of taking advantage of their recovered freedom to dedicate themselves finally to the truth of the Word of God, to God’s actual utterances, so as to refute the lies of false teachers, these people then group themselves together and form a new "congregation", like these "Love and Light Groups" made up of former members of the Wittek sect.

(See also Discourse 106: "The false teachings in the Christian congregations.")

What no one tells people in these denominations – for understandable reasons – is the fact that the God of Christianity is not a God of religions, churches or denominations, but is the God of human beings. Which is to say of every individual human being in a quite personal sense. So for example it makes no sense at all to get the clerical officials of the various churches (parsons, pastors etc.) to pray for oneself or for others (as happens e.g. in the Catholic/Orthodox churches). God doesn’t hear these people!!

It would be a similar situation if I wanted to give my wife (who has been living with me for more than 50 years of marriage under one roof – something that needs to be stated today) a bouquet for her birthday and had it delivered by the postman. This would not "get through" either – not to my wife at least! - and she would probably ask me if I were a bit touched in the head.

And in personal matters it is no more likely that prayers for us coming from strangers (let alone from corrupt and pedophile "shepherds", or for that matter prayers to dead "saints" of any description) are going to get through to God.

Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Isa 8,19 When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
8,20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. Isa 8,19-20;

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"

Jer 32,27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" Jer 32,27;

In the above biblical text, Jer 32,27, we find it stated with the utmost clarity: the Lord our God is the just God of all flesh. There are no special preferences and there are no exclusions! Every individual human being of this earth can turn to this God and pray to him – without the need of belonging to any specific religion, church, denomination, caste or race!

There is only one sole condition that makes it possible for the God of all flesh to hear and respond to this prayer. Not money, not position, not exceptional culture or high intelligence – but simply and solely the belief in the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming sacrifice on the cross as atonement before the just God for the sins of all human beings (1Jn 2:1-2).

Anyone who accepts this faith and prays to this God in a quiet place – alone! (Mt 6:5-6) – with an upright and open heart, in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24), can be sure that God will hearken to his prayer. If the prayer is a petition, it may not be fulfilled immediately – seeing that God knows best when it is the right time to grant the petitioner the best possible kind of fulfillment.

But in the meantime we can think about all the things that God has already done for us in our lives to date. In the case of many things where we thought we were just "damn lucky" or which we attributed to an anonymous "good fortune" (or even, in our godless arrogance, saw as being the result of our own abilities), we can now see that it was already God acting at that time, who knew already that we would convert later on and preserved us, through the influence of his Holy Spirit, from sliding completely away into godlessness. And for this we now have time to thank him in prayer.

But whatever may be the content of our prayer, God will hear us, and we can be confident that we have a personal connection with this God of all flesh.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life.

Jn 3,35 "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 3,36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Jn 3,35-36;

1) See also: The falsification of the Ten Commandments by the Catholic church.

2) It started in 1975 with a slowly growing community of like-minded persons, the "Heimholungswerk" ["Repatriation Initiative"]. In 1984 they received further instructions to establish a live-in community called "Universelles Leben" ["Universal Life"] or UL for short. Wealthy people came up with donations amounting to 400 million deutschmarks, a complete corporate inheritance! (Offenbarung Christi – das Medium Gabriele Wittek [Revelation of Christ – the medium Gabriele Wittek])