Warren Smith had much to reveal about Leonard Sweet.
The late Willis Harman is one of Leonard Sweet’s “personal role models” and “heroes,” yet he is listed as one of the most influential Aquarian/New Age conspirators in the best-selling book The Aquarian Conspiracy, written by New Age proponent Marilyn Ferguson.1)Warren B. Smith, A “Wonderful” Deception: The Further New Age Implications of the Emerging/Purpose Driven Movement, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2009, p. 107
Marilyn Ferguson acknowledging the conclusion of her questionnaire wrote, “When respondents were asked to name individuals whose ideas had influenced them” Willis Harman’s name followed immediately after Thomas Merton.2)Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s, J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1980, p. 420 Constance E. Cumbey presented Harman’s credentials as a highly decorated New Age leader.
Willis Harman, the policy director of SRI, International lectures with [David] Spangler.
Harman’s influence in the New Age Movement is virtually unlimited. It has ranged from superintending the Kettering Foundation financed “Changing Images of Man” study to serve as president of the astronaut Edgar Mitchell-founded Institute of Noetic Sciences. That report was heavily relied upon by New Age activist Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy. Harman relied also substantially influenced to notorious and disturbing Global 2000 Report to President Carter. Harman is also part of Planetary Citizen/Planetary Initiative as well as one of its conveying organization: the limited membership United States Association for the Club of Rome.3)Constance E. Cumbey, A Planned Deception: The Staging of a New Age “Messiah,” Pointe Publishers, Inc., 1985, p. 39
Ferguson further identified her dependency of Harman’s work, as Cumbey acknowledged, saying, “Harman was one of the group of scholars and policy analysts who helped write The Changing Image of Man, a landmark study prepared for the Charles Kettering Foundation by the Stanford Research Institute in 1974. This remarkable document laid the groundwork for a paradigm shift in understanding how individuals and social transformation might be accomplished.4)Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s, J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1980, p. 61 Or as Dave Hunt put it, “Reading this important unpublished study, one arrives at the following startling conclusion concerning its purpose: to determine how Western man could deliberately be turned into an Eastern mystic/psychic.”5)Dave Hunt, Yoga and the Body of Christ, The Berean Call, 2006, p. 53 Hunt concludes,
The deliberate orchestrated so-called “changing images of man” through “awakening into higher consciousness” is actually the demonization of mankind in preparation for Antichrist and his world religion.6)Dave Hunt, Yoga and the Body of Christ, The Berean Call, 2006, p. 113
Leonard Sweet seems to be acquainted with this work of Harman’s as he stated:
New Lights must catch the waves of a spiritual Gulf Stream taking them into the unknown region of what Nobel laureate/philosopher/London School of Economic professor Karl Popper and electrical engineer/Stanford University professor Willis W. Harman call the “Spiritual Science.”7)Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic, Whaleprints for SpiritVenture Ministries, Inc., 1991, 1994, p. 218
Harman himself explained what this “Spiritual Science” is in an interview, “Then there’s a fourth level, which I would call the spiritual sciences, and we don’t have very good representations of that yet, although some of the Tibetan Buddhist psychological work certainly would qualify as part of that. There are certain things in the Gnostic tradition of Christianity that would, and transpersonal psychology.8)TWM, SCIENCE AND RELIGION with WILLIS HARMAN, Ph.D. http://twm.co.nz/harm_scirel.htm, accessed 5/29/11 The “Spiritual Science” is simply a New Age consciousness. One of Harman’s more popular books entitled Global Mind Change: The New Age Revolution in How We Think, states plainly on the front cover “There never has been a more lucid interpretation of New Age consciousness and what it promises for the future than the works of Willis Harman.”9)Willis Harman, PH.D, Global Mind Change: The New Age Revolution in How We Think, Warner Books, 1980, front cover
New Age prophet David Spangler would also agree with the exalted status given to Harman by referring his readers to his work. “This image of the new age is the one most popularly presented to the public, in books such as Willis Harman’s An Incomplete Guide to the Future, Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy, and physicist Fritjof Capra’s The Turning Point.”10)David Spangler, Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred, Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1984, p. 80 Fritjof Capra shares the goal of “personal and social transformation” for a paradigm shift into the new spirituality. “On the other hand, I also believe that our own spiritual traditions will have to undergo some radical changes in order to be in harmony with the values of the new paradigm…. This kind of new spirituality is now being developed by many groups and movements, both within and outside the churches. An example would be the creation-centered spirituality promoted by Mathew Fox and his colleagues.”11)Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1999, p. 341 So we can see now that Leonard Sweet, Willis Harman, Marilyn Ferguson, Fritjof Capra, along with Matthew Fox and David Spangler are all attempting to change traditional spirituality (i.e. Christianity) from “within and outside the churches.” Leonard Sweet himself – who is from “within… the churches” – hails Spangler as a spiritual leader that influenced his own theology, stating,
I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.12)Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic, Whaleprints for SpiritVenture Ministries, Inc., 1991, 1994, p. 312
Just as Leonard Sweet refers to “New Light leaders”, and attributing his understanding of this to New Age prophet, David Spangler, so has “The Christ” as allegedly channeled by a New Age medium, Virginia Essene, spoke of a “loving conspiracy of the light workers” endeavoring to “united heaven and earth…”13)The Christ, channeled by Virginia Essene, New Teachings for an Awakening Humanity, S.E.E. Publishing Company, 1986, p. 15
[Leonard] Sweet promote a New Age spirituality that he calls New Light and “the Christ consciousness.”14)David Cloud, The New Age Tower of Babel, Way of Life Literature, 2008, p. 324
Other “heroes” of the faith (not the Christian faith) which Leonard Sweet acknowledges are Matthew Fox, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who Sweet describes as “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice,”15)Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic, Whaleprints for SpiritVenture Ministries, Inc., 1991, 1994, p. 106 and New Ager M. Scott Peck. “In his [Peck] books The Different Drum (1987) and A World Awaiting to Be Born (1983), Peck preached the concept that a new age has arrived in man’s evolutionary process and a spiritually evolved generation can create unity, solve the world’s problems, and bring in an age of peace.”16)David Cloud, The New Age Tower of Babel, Way of Life Literature, 2008, p. 226 This evolutionary process of men according to Peck is to become God. “God is the goal of evolution. It is God who is the source of the evolutionary force and God who is the destination.”17)M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, Simon & Schuster, 1978, p. 270 David Spangler stated that Lucifer was the “angel of man’s inner evolution.”18)David Spangler, Reflections on the Christ, Findhorn Press, 1978, p. 36
Leonard Sweet also cites with favor mystic Martin Buber,19)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 313 Willis Harman,20)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 156 Meister Eckhart,21)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 352 and Ken Wilber.22)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 136 Other emergent church leaders such as Rod Bell have recommended reading Ken Wilber. “For a mind-blowing introduction to emergence theory and divine creativity, set aside three months and read Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything.”23)Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Zondervan, 2006, p. 192 The dangers of these interlinking personalities is addressed by Roger Oakland, acknowledging, “Here are a few of these spiritual activities that Wilber promotes: yoga, Zen, centering prayer, kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), TM, tantra (Hindu-based sexuality), and kundalini yoga…. A Brief History of Everything discusses these practices (in a favorable light) as well. For Rob Bell to say that Wilber’s book is ‘mind blowing’ and readers should spend three months in it leaves no room for doubt regarding Rob Bell’s spiritual sympathies.”24)Roger Oakland, Faith Undone: the emerging church… a new reformation or an end-time deception, Lighthouse Trails publishing, 2007, p. 110 Leonard Sweet explains why Emergent church authors find no qualms with citing New Age authors. “In postcritical scholarship, one does not have to dissect an author before quoting him affirmatively or picking up her work. In postcritical ministries, one does not have to critique a colleague before cheerleading her or partnering with him.”25)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 299-300 In the real world if one endorses or promotes the literature of a New Age author they have obviously endorsed and promoted the message of that author’s New Age spirituality. More importantly, Sweet just admitted that the emergent church is postcritical and that to affirmatively quote an author is equal to “partnering with him.” The Emergent church is a New Age/Christianity partnership. He must have been pleased to report “Sales of New Age books went from an astonishing 5.6 million copies in 1992 to an unbelievable 9.7 million three years later”,26)Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, Sink or Swim in the New Millennium, Zondervan, Publishing, 1999, p. 414 and even more pleased when Rick Warren endorsed the New Age movement by promoting three occultist in his church to launch a fitness plan. Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Mark Hyman, and D. Daniel Amen whom all prescribe occult activities such as reiki and yoga. “Is not Dr. Oz’s appearance at Rick Warren’s church a religious Trojan horse for the New Age movement?”27)Brannon Howse, Religious Trojan Horse, Worldview Weekend Publishing, 2012, p. 239
By understanding Sweet’s spiritual influences, ought we to be concerned that Rick Warren keeps such companionship? Rick Warren’s apologists Richard Abanes is quoted as saying “Doctrinally/theologically, Leonard Sweet is about as Christian as anyone can get.”28)Richard Abanes, as cited by Warren B. Smith, A “Wonderful” Deception: The Further New Age Implications of the Emerging/Purpose Driven Movement, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2009, p. 133 Abanes referred to the “New Age spokesperson David Spangler”,29)H. Wayne House, Richard Abanes, The Less Traveled Road and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Philosophy of M. Scott Peck, Horizon Books, 1995, p. 28; also in Richard Abanes, A New Earth an Old Deception, Bethany House Publishers, 2008, p. 51 but is unconcerned with his theological influence on Leonard Sweet. A Christian apologist is supposed to defend the Christian faith, not give credence to a New Ager who has infiltrated the faith. We should also ask, “If Rick Warren has not deflected from a sound faith, why would he need an apologist to defend him?” Especially in light of his comment: “It is also not our job to defend ourselves against criticism.”30)Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002, p. 268 However, Michael D. LeMay noted, “This has been the case over the years with pastor Rick Warren. He has been involved in some very suspicious activities and made statements that seem to contradict his actions. In fact he recently had to hire a PR [public relations] firm to help him in explaining recent statements and actions. Should a church really need a PR firm?”31)Michael D. Lemay, The Suicide of American Christianity: Drinking the “Cool” Aid of Secular Humanism, WestBow Press, A Division of Thomas Nelson, 2012, p. 26 These men surely cannot be trusted!
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If you liked this article, you may also be interested in Crept In Unawares: Mysticism by Heath Henning is available for purchase here.
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