Tunnel Vision

60

Roman played the Warren Gladstone video for the third time.

The guy had a big cartoon happy face, and he was making claims about the Day of Jubilation as if it were the second coming itself. He carried on about a whole new way of life for the world—a way of life that would unite people of all faiths and of no faith; a day when there would be no more fear of death. No more fear of hellfires.

A day of rejoicing. A day that will live forever and ever, world without end.

The guy sounded pretty convincing—so much so that Roman felt a little tickle of inspiration.

But there were dissenters—bloggers railing against him for going “soft on sin” and reducing the gospel to a lot of left-wing self-help bullshit.

Making God an extension of New Age desires trivializes His divine sovereignty and fails to explain the place of good and evil in His divine plan. He teaches people to believe that with God you can do anything you want. God helped them win the lottery, get a job, afford a new car. But that trivializes God to handouts.

What snagged Roman’s attention was what one commentator said about near-death experiences:

Some claim they’ve encountered a being of light that was Jesus. Appealing as that may sound, this is a false Jesus who teaches that death is good; that sin is not a problem. That there’s no hell to worry about since all people go to heaven, regardless of whether one has faith in Christ … that all religions are equally valid.…

The only conclusion is that this “Jesus” is the lying spirit warned against in the Book of John. And those who believe are the devil’s dupes.

Remember that Satan can appear as an “angel of light” and “servant of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14–15). His goal is to mimic Jesus and to lead people away from the true Christ of scripture.

Beware! Such claims of tunneling into the afterlife are the work of Satan’s henchmen.…

And at the bottom of several blogs was the name of the same organization, one he had never heard of: the Fraternity of Jesus.

He logged off as the words echoed and reechoed in his head: Devil’s dupes. Satan’s henchmen.