What exactly is Kabbalah and why would anyone practice this religion? Right now, Kabbalah is one of the fastest growing cults in society. The infiltration of Kabbalah in today’s culture is evident especially in the music videos and symbolism of pop stars. In addition, many film and rock stars are also practitioners, and are identified by the signature red bracelets they adorn. Kabbalah claims to offer a means of harnessing God’s power for personal gain, through secret knowledge. However, with this promise comes the potential for great deception, as its ancient origins are found in the occultic hotbed of Alexandria, Egypt. Join Carl now for this intriguing broadcast…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast (below)…
Friend my topic today is Kabbalah. Now I can hear some people chuckling in the background here, what on earth is a Pastor talking about Kabbalah for and what exactly is that anyway? Well it’s fast becoming a serious cult in our day and age. When I look at pop-stars today compared to when I was growing up, the occultic images and symbolism used within their music videos are rife. I see pyramids, false God’s, all seeing eyes, Illuminati symbolism, Egyptian hieroglyphs etc. and the sad fact is our youth are totally blind to the influence of the occult on their lives when viewing these videos or listening to the music. There’s a thirst among the music industry for all things ancient and occultic and that thirst doesn’t seem to be quenched any time soon. I sincerely believe that one of the reasons for this occultic infiltration into the music industry is Kabbalah but not the only reason certainly. Followers of Hollywood Kabbalah, which is one of the three main branches of Kabbalah, often wear a red cotton bracelet around their wrists as a trademark of their membership. Now, the Kabbalah concerns itself with philosophical matters such as cosmogony (the origin of the universe), cosmology (the order of the universe), epistemology (the means and validity of knowledge) and the process of the universe. Kabbalah is Hebraic theosophy or knowledge of God through mystical insight which shares many things with Gnosticism. According to them, these mystical insights are not available to everybody, only those learned Rabbi’s who seek direct communication with God but friend they do not weight their findings in light of God’s Holy Word which is a very dangerous and deceptive endeavor.
Now let me start out by listing the some of the celebrity practitioners of Kabbalah from the music and film industries. They include Madonna, Lindsay Lohan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Anthony Kiedis, Zac Efron, Demi Moore, Britney Spears (who was introduced to Kabbalah by Madonna), Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Lucy Liu, James Van Der Beek, Alex Rodriguez, Rosie O’Donnell, Naomi Campbell, Donna Karan, Elizabeth Taylor, Mischa Barton, Paris Hilton, Ariana Grande, Nicole Richie, Sharon Osborne, Diane Keaton, Naomi Campbell, Winona Ryder, Kimora Lee Simmons and finally Victoria and David Beckham (who often wore the signature red bracelet during his soccer matches).
Now did you notice there were several leading pop stars and rock singers in that list friend. The truth is Kabbalah is not easily defined. In fact there are so many sects of Kabbala, none of them even agree on the correct spelling of this cult! It does not have one single book or belief system but instead is a smorgasbord of different lies all rolled into one. In a nutshell Kabbalah is ancient Jewish mysticism. It centers on the oral traditions of God handed down by the ancients in the ‘secret Torah’. Now as you know the Torah is the first five books of the Bible and comprises of the written law. But Kabbalist’s contend there’s also a secret oral law that was passed down amongst the Hebrews and available to those who join their ranks, sound familiar? The driving force behind Kabbalah as with all mystery religions is to harness supernatural power. It’s the belief that people can access God’s power and use it to transform themselves and the world around them. But this power is not for the good of mankind but for selfish ambition and often at the expense of someone else. Its aim is to utilize the supernatural ream for power and advancement with little consideration for its impact on those around them. As we know friend, only Lucifer the light bearer offers power outside of God’s jurisdiction for personal gain and its celebrity followers may or may not realize this. The Kabbalah occupies itself with esoteric knowledge, or the “innermost secrets.” It’s a unique brand of occultism built on fanciful and spiritualized interpretations of the OT and particularly the Pentateuch or Torah, as I have mentioned.
As I said, the tradition of Kabbalah is the teaching that there exists a secret teaching of the torah, and a hidden coded meaning behind the words. This is coined as mystical and hidden from the masses. Judaic Kabbalah refers to the ‘wisdom of Torah’ or the “hidden science” but it’s true nature is the focus of endless debate amongst even scholars. In today’s world there are three prominent branches of Kabbalah: Judaic Kabbalah, Hermetic Kabbalah and Hollywood Kabbalah. All of these branches claim to be the authentic teaching lineage. You could say the main aim of Kabbalists’ is to, study Kabbalah, argue Kabbalah interpretation and finally spend time telling others they’re not true Kabbalists’. This reminds me of another bunch who liked to debate for endless hours instead of embracing the truth for themselves and that would be the Pharisees and Sadducee’s of Jesus day. Now according to Kabbalists’, the Torah or written law of God is not an authentic oracle of God and its author Moses never meant for it to be taken literally. Instead the Kabbalists’ claim we should focus on its subliminal meaning via the usage of symbolism, imagery and allegory. Therefore according to them, God cannot be known by man, since God wouldn’t dare come down to our measly level of existence but instead humans can only know about God but His nature is surrounded in mystery.
Friend let me tell you right now, if you’ve been following my radio show for any length of time, you’ll realize this so called, ‘secret knowledge’ is once again a resurfacing of the false branch that claims salvation through knowledge instead of salvation by saving grace through faith in Christ Jesus. It smells of the Alexandrian Greek influence of Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8 and the Greek philosophers who tried to mix their philosophies with the pure word of God. The God that many Jews embraced during their time in Alexandria Egypt was distant, transcendent, impersonal and far removed from man. If you recall the world of Alexandria was melting pot of religions and philosophies, exposing leading Jewish scholars to Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, as well as the writings of Hermes and the development of Gnosticism and all things false. This legacy was carried on by Simon Magus, the same Simon whom the Apostle Paul rebuked in Acts 8:20-23. One of his false teachings was that man had a dormant power within him that needed to be harnessed and that man can become a god himself…ha ha sound familiar, it’s the same old junk man.
Now during the reign of Alexander, the Great (c. 330 BC), more Jews lived in Alexandria, Egypt than in Jerusalem and although they believed their Scripture to be superior to Greek philosophy, unfortunately some of them were not immune to its influence. In fact some of them probably struggled with their theological identity in the philosophical culture of the Grecian’s. Now over hundreds of years, a second method of scriptural interpretation evolved due to the influence of Plato and Philo. Therefore, as time progressed some of the Jews substituted the literal meaning of the Torah or God’s Holy Word for symbolic imagery, and this cancer came to be known as the allegorical method of interpretation. It’s the same cancer that lead to Higher criticism practiced by German scholars who attacked the bible like Constantine Von Tischendorf in the early 1800’s and later publicized by Westcott and Hort in their perverse Revised Standard Version which was not based on the Textus Receptus. But I digress friend. The truth is the modern day version of Kabbalism is really nothing new but merely the hybridization of that which is pure and holy, namely God’s word united with arbitrary Greek philosophy, founded upon man’s reasoning faculties having no real basis for truth. Kabbalah today is really an exclusive little club where each rabbi claims to be the real or authentic teacher but it’s nothing more than ‘old-timey’ witchcraft under another name, utilizing demons to gain access into people’s lives.
Now let me talk about Hollywood Kabbalah for a moment. Jewish leaders across the globe downplay this branch of Kabbalah because Philip Berg, its founder added a whole bunch of New Age thought to his particular sect. Philip Berg was a multi million dollar success and claimed his version of Kabbalah can, “find lost children, cure their illnesses, replenish pocketbooks and bring true love.” But the so called Rev. Berg is not without controversy. It’s been documented that former Kabbalah followers within his congregation experienced high pressure sales techniques and personal threats, that included a warning that, “their children might fall ill unless they donated money to his organization,” and that “‘dark forces’ would bring them personal tragedy if they ever left the organization.” Berg went on to claim that all people are responsible for their own pain and suffering and it has nothing to do with sin and our fallen world as the Bible teaches. He went on to foolishly declare that the Jews died in the Holocaust because they failed to read the Sepher ha Zohar, which is a series of volumes on the mystery aspects of the Torah which appeared in the 13th century. Berg has since passed away in Sept 2013. The Zohar is written in Aramaic and based on ancient material. It’s a huge work consisting of several books, the most important of which is the mystical commentary on the Torah as I’ve stated.
Friend some people hold this Zohar in high esteem even within Christian circles but it’s nothing but complete nonsense. It’s filled with nothing but mystical speculations, wild fantasy and allegory gone mad. Kabbalist’s believe in the study of the Talmud which are the commentaries on the Torah, but go a step further, by putting greater emphasis on the study of the Zohar or oral tradition. In 1971, with virtually no money, Karen Berg and her husband, Philip Berg — the spiritual leader opened their first Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles California, turning traditional Jewish wisdom upside down by offering Kabbalah study to women and non-Jews. The Bergs had a simple but radical idea: Kabbalah wasn’t just for elite Jewish scholars but was something that could be taught to everyone.
Now Berg was idolized by Madonna and she has encouraged millions of her followers to listen to the words of wisdom from Rev. Berg, who also cannot prove he’s from the long line of authentic Kabbalistic rabbi’s which is requisite to be a true teacher of Kabbalah. Berg’s mantra was chilling to say the least and a well known hallmark of the occult. It reads, open your heart and reach for the light. Friend it’s clear to us bastions of truth, the light they’re reaching for is nothing but Lucifer’s, Son of the Morning, who appears as an angel of light, to deceive many. What’s even more disturbing is Madonna’s eager pursuit of Kabbalah and its influence upon children. I’m sure you’ve witnessed these seemingly benevolent acts by Madonna especially in the nation of Malawi. She regularly adopts children there and we think it’s an honorable thing to do on the surface at least and why wouldn’t we. But the Kabbalah Centers for Spiritual Kids (SFK) curriculum is being taught to children in orphanages that Madonna has built in Malawi, Africa. This all sounds wonderful friend, but the bottom line is Kabbala-ism is a cult with occultic tendencies and children are unknowingly being exposed to the occult, by Madonna who’s one of its biggest evangelists.
Friend, the similarities between Kabbalah and the New Age movement cannot be discounted. Kabbalah places a spark of the divine in everyone and everything and New Age teaches the divinity of all or God within, which we know is a lie from the pit of Hell. We need to steer clear of this cult at all costs. Kabbalah has much in common with Gnosticism also, another one of the mystery religions spawned in Alexandria by some Jews who were later seduced by Greek philosophy. Kabbalah has therefore long been associated with the mystery and power linked to the world of the occult. As we know friend, the foundation of all occultic practices is based upon doctrines of demons that have been concocted by communing with them and is strictly forbidden. Kabbalists’ interpret the Hebrew Bible relying on innumerable commentaries of men and interpretative tools but their downfall is they take all scripture as allegorical instead of literal. For them, the fall of man, the Genesis flood, the life of Moses and even the two temples are all an allegory and never existed in reality, which we know is a false teaching. They also teach of a soon coming Messiah who’ll bring in a new age of enlightenment.
Kabbalah uses various exegetical techniques to attain their secret knowledge which have no biblical or logical support. They are Gematria, Notarikon and Themurah. These techniques are entirely subjective however and their usage leads to allegorical nonsense. As Christians we know commentaries and books are used to help us understand the Bible but they are never supposed to be a substitute for it, nor can they judge Scripture. We must remember that scripture judges all forms of interpretation but interpretation-al viewpoints through commentaries must never govern Scripture. Friend, have you heard enough nonsense for one day? I know I have. Stick to your old King James Bible and you won’t stray far. We take God’s word literally friend and so should you. I also wish to thank Dr. Kenneth Boa for granting me permission to use some of his source material in this segment and Dr. Walter Martin for some references.
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