Nuggets from Occult Invasion—Following the Serpent

The serpent’s promise of godhood to Eve, as we have seen, is the foundation of occultism, paganism, Hinduism, and the New Age movement. The January 1931 edition of The Occult Digest: A Magazine for Everybody contained an article titled “Awakening the Divine Self.” Readers were assured, “Within you is every power of the universe—all love, all wisdom, all life.” The magazine referred to this power as “serpent power,” which indeed it is.

The same lie is a major theme running through much science fiction. Gene Roddenberry, the now-deceased creator of the Star Trek movies and TV series, was “brought up in a Baptist household…went to a Baptist young people’s Christian Association-…[but] spoke negatively about all religions, especially Christian[ity].” Roddenberry was convinced “that the human race is an infant God…[and] that he was God.”

Nowhere is the serpent’s lie professed more openly or honored more highly than in Mormonism. From the pulpit of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on June 8, 1873, Mormon leader Brigham Young declared: “The devil told [Eve] the truth [about godhood]…I do not blame Mother Eve. I would not have had her miss eating the forbidden fruit for anything in the world….” In apparent agreement, psychologist Rollo May called Eve’s sin felix culpa, or “fortunate fall.”

Joseph Smith founded his cult upon the delusionary aspiration after godhood. Smith taught that matter and intelligence have always existed and the ascent to godhood has been pursued forever. There must, therefore, be an infinite number of gods in Mormonism, though Mormons claim they only deal with “the God of this world”—which, incidentally, is how the Bible refers to Satan (2 Corinthians:4:4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
See All...). The secret rituals in Mormon temples are the first step for Mormon males in following their gods on this long road to “exaltation.”

Recently deceased Mormon President Spencer W. Kimball said that Christ has given Mormons “a code of laws and commandments whereby we might attain perfection and, eventually, Godhood….” How long is “eventually”? Joseph Smith indicated it could take eons of time:

“When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom and ascend step by step until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel; you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation [to godhood]. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the vail [of death] before you will have learned them all.”

Mormonism had the approval of Norman Vincent Peale, who was the keynote speaker at President Kimball’s 85^th birthday celebration in 1980. He called the Mormon leaders “men of God…[who] are doing God’s work…by their fruits ye shall know them….” Because Kimball was “so deeply spiritual,” Peale asked him, “Will you bless me?”

Perhaps Peale, who was a 33^rd-degree Mason, favored Mormonism because it is so much like Masonry. Each state in the USA has a Supreme Grand Lodge of Freemasonry and most Grand Lodges publish a Monitor for the guidance of members in the official doctrines and practices. Consider the following from the Kentucky Monitor:

“The three really great rituals of the human race are the Prajapati ritual of ancient Hinduism, the Mass of the Christian [Roman Catholic] Church, and the Third Degree of Masonry. Together they testify to the profoundest insight of the human soul: that God becomes man that man may become God!”