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GraceBro -> RE: does any know about kabbalah? (7/3/2008 1:43:51 AM)
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This is an entry on my blog from July 1, 2008, that might be of help. It is entitled Best Kept A Secret...
Today, I was engaged in a conversation with a nice gentleman who volunteered the fact that he was a priest. When I asked what type of priest, he said he belonged to a division of the Catholic church. Being at work, I couldn't really engage him in much deep conversation, but got him to admit that he practices Kabbalah. I am not aware any priests that practice this "form" of Catholicism. Kabbalah, according to the Kabbalah Centre, is "the world's oldest body of spiritual wisdom," and that "Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews use Kabbalah to improve their spiritual experience." These two beliefs were affirmed by the gentleman I was talking with. He said that Kabbalah is the original religion of Abraham. It took all I had to bite my tongue. As my pastor, who was raised a Jew and was studying to become a Rabbi when he accepted Jesus Christ, says, Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism. In my opinion, it is just one more New Age religion to throw on the pile of cults and false religions that are permeating the world today.
"But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." 2 Peter 2: 1-3
The Bible says that there is "nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)." And a teaching like Kabbalah falls into that category. It appeals to the flesh, tickles the ears and gives the false impression that it is something that unites the world. This has been going on since the beginning of time. Kabbalah is just one of the latest in a long line of false religions claiming to be the cure for what ails mankind. There are two things that are universal amongst the human race, no matter where you go on the planet. One, we seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Two, we are incurably religious, always looking for ways in which to "clean" ourselves up, earn our salvation and the respect of God. Kabbalah attempts to appeal to those desires by stating that practicing it will eventually result in the adherent being able to "remove every form of chaos, pain and suffering." It goes on to teach that man was created to receive gifts and that we "must first earn those gifts" by "fundamentally changing ourselves." This is just the same old lie of Satan that has been around since man sinned in the Garden. That lie is that if you just do what is good and avoid what is evil you will be like God (Genesis 3). All of this is designed to deceive us into believing that we are not dead in sin, that we are capable of ridding ourselves of it, and thus do not need Jesus Christ to save us.
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Romans 7: 15-20
No matter how good our intentions, how gung ho we are, we cannot earn any "gifts" from God, much less rid ourselves of chaos, suffering and pain. There is no religion, no tenants, no laws, no rituals, no amount of self deprivation, that will cleanse ourselves of indwelling sin. As the Apostle Paul found out, "nothing good" lived within him. And we are not any different than Paul. Nothing good lives in us. But, like Paul exclaimed later on in that same passage, the only thing that could rescue him from his "body of death" is "Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:25)." I understand why so many people desire to find love, acceptance, meaning and purpose to life within the confines of religion. After all, we were created to receive those things from God. Kabbalah even says as much by stating that if a person follows its teachings the end will be finding the "fulfillment that humanity was meant to have." This is just one more lie of the devil that is deceiving people into trying to be like God. If it were possible to do this than there would have been no need for Christ to come.
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" Romans 5: 6-10
Kabbalah teaches many falsities, but the ultimate deception is that it teaches the "process of freeing ourselves from the domination of the human ego and creating an affinity with the sharing essence of God." Nearly every false teaching has at its root the denying of indwelling sin and spiritual death. The claims of any belief system are only as good as the foundation it rests on. Kabbalah places its validity in the efforts of sinful, fallen man. As Christians, our beliefs don't rest on our best efforts to be like God through adherence and obedience to a religious system. The foundation of what we believe rests, squarely, in the Person and Deity of Jesus Christ. The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that although we are born into this world in our sins, spiritually dead to God, Jesus Christ came to take the punishment for those sins so that, raised from the dead, He could offer the life of God, as a free gift, to anyone who would receive it. The chaos, pain and suffering of this world is not something we can overcome and rid ourselves of. It is the result of sin being in the world and is used by God to show us our sinfulness and need for the saving life of Christ. Kabbalah claims that it is the best kept secret. However, with its false teaching of works based salvation and, subsequent denial of the need for Jesus Christ, it is something best kept a secret.
Grace and Peace
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