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Scientology or Science Fiction?

Episode 20

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Hosted by
Carl Joseph

Carl is a biblical scholar, minister, husband, father and life coach. In his mid-twenties he had a powerful encounter with God and saw miraculous healings as a result. He passionately shares these stories and empowers others to fulfill their God-given potential.

If the tenets of scientology sound like they came straight from the pages of a science fiction novel, then you’d be right. Its founder, Ron L. Hubbard, was a popular science fiction writer of the 1930’s and 40’s but he made a statement at a New Jersey science convention that made people curious of his real intentions, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” Tune in now to discover the core doctrines of this subjective and existential movement which claims up to 300 million members worldwide…Join Carl now.

Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)

“Friend, no other religion is as litigious as Scientology. They have been plaintiffs in an enormous amount of lawsuits compared with most churches. Scientology is a false religion by biblical teachings. It has its own scripture; it holds a worldview and seeks spiritual enlightenment. Whenever a religion strays from the biblical outline of God’s plan of salvation, as shown in the Bible then it enters the realm of being labeled a cult and Scientology is most assuredly a cult, by the purest definition. Ron L. Hubbard was a popular science fiction writer of the 1930’s and 40’s but he made a statement at a New Jersey science convention that made people curious of his real intentions and I quote, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” And that my friend is what old Ron did. He started a religion, he made it up, and he treated it as merely another science fiction project. The following year in May 1950, Hubbard released, Dianetics: A Modern Science of Mental Health which has become entry level reading for converts to Scientology.

Hubbard’s overnight success with Dianetics virtually gave him a new career in writing self-help and religious books. Dianetics means “through thought” or, “through the soul“. His first book on Scientology was published in 1951, and the Church of Scientology of California was incorporated on Feb 18th, 1954. Worldwide estimates of followers of scientology range from 6 million to 300 million and the truth is, no one really knows how many there are. There are probably about 25,000 in this country. That’s one scientologist for every 12,000 Americans. So, in terms of its saturation, it’s not as prolific as other cults.

Ron Hubbard was raised on a small ranch near Helena, Montana a town that had four churches, but his later criticism of Christianity betrays his virtually faithless upbringing. Ron made many claims that he was a worldwide traveler, but these claims have been contested by numerous books. Even Hubbard’s academic degrees have come under close scrutiny also, since one of his Alma Mata’s (Sequoia University) was later discovered to be an unrecognized diploma mill, located in a two-story house in Los Angeles. It was closed down in 1958 by an act of the California legislature.

Now the success of Ron Hubbard’s writing skills cannot be argued. The manuscript for Dianetics was supposedly completed in just three weeks-time. Those who knew him said he could type ninety words a minute the old two finger method. But does this qualify the man to be a prophet of a new religion on which to risk your very soul, for the rest of eternity? I don’t think so. Ron’s first two marriages ended fairly swiftly. His second wife (Sara Northrup Hubbard’s), divorce allegations contained many things in addition to bigamy charges. She claimed sleep deprivation, beatings, strangulation, kidnapping of their child and fleeing to Cuba and Ron even counseled her to commit suicide at one point, “if she really loved him“. Sara had met Hubbard through a Pasadena based occult group led by the famous Jack Parsons of JPL laboratories, who was a disciple of the late Alaister Crowley, whose alias was “the beast, 666”. Crowley was a leading Satanist, sorcerer, and black magician. He founded the OTO or Ordo Templi Orientis and he was no doubt qualified to be Harry Potter’s lost uncle by all accounts. Regardless of what Alistair called himself, he has now met the real beast in Hell and that would be his old boss Satan. Of one thing I can be sure, if you make a bargain to serve the devil in exchange for mercy or riches you won’t find it. It is God who has the power to cast men into hell, not Satan. Hell was created for the devil and demon forces in the first place and man goes there as an intruder.

Scientology bizarrely defends Hubbard’s connection to the Parsons black Magic cult by stating that he went undercover to infiltrate it, on the orders of Naval Intelligence. For years the Church of Scientology argues it has long been oppressed by the American government. But guess what, no record has ever been produced to prove that Naval Intelligence hired Hubbard for such an operation. Whether the Scientologist leaders of today wish to acknowledge the truth or not. There was a connection between Hubbard and the occult. In fact, Hubbard’s working knowledge of the occult and black magic satisfied Parsons. In one letter Jack Parsons wrote to Alister Crowley, Jack speaks highly of Ron’s knowledge of ritualistic black magic. Some have even gone as far as to speculate that Alister Crowley was potentially grooming Parsons and/or Hubbard as potential successors for his OTO organization. The Bible of course, condemns occult practices as abominable (Deut 18:9-12). Hubbard was married a third time, which lasted the rest of his lifetime. Mary Sue Whipp captivated worldwide attention in 1977 when she masterminded a sinister covert operation against various levels of the US government that could rival any spy novel.

Hubbard spent his final years in isolation from the public eye. Top Scientologists at the time isolated him from his family and church members until he died of a stroke in 1986. Scientists of course claimed that Ron didn’t die. They said he merely ‘discarded his body’ to move on to the next level of research, outside of his body. How this new research would become available to planet earth remains unsaid. Now let’s get to the teachings of Scientology. Hubbard originally posited in his writings that mankind is basically ‘good’, which is in complete contradiction to what the Bible teaches. He claimed that the basic instinct for all people is ‘survival’, which has some merits, but man’s environmental conditions and painful experiences result in his failure. So instead of blaming our decrepit sinful condition on ourselves as he should have done, he blamed the environment instead. Hubbard believed that if a man changes his circumstances and eliminates pain all together, then his internal condition improves. Two important factors then according to Hubbard are avoiding pain and gaining pleasure. Trouble is regardless of environment; Ron had not accounted for his fleshly sinful nature that is mutually exclusive of environment. Ron’s religion is effectively a science of the mind; it addresses the soul condition of man but fails to address his fallen nature of man, which resides in his spirit.

The meaning of Scientology is, “knowing about knowing, or science of knowledge.” Friend if you know anything about the Gnostics of old, Scientology is nothing but repackaged Gnosticism. It’s sold upon the age-old lie of antiquity that man can attain salvation through knowledge, not saving Grace through faith and it shares this premise with other cults. The Church of Scientology bears a cross similar to the historical cross of Christianity with the exception of four short sunburst points protruding from the center. Hubbard borrowed the cross from a very ancient Spanish Mission in Arizona, a sand casting which was dug up by Ron himself. Ron also claims discovery of “Thetan“, which is likened to a man’s spirit. This thetan reincarnates after a man dies and can transform into interplanetary life forms. Once reaching earth as this thetan, its goal is freedom, to be released from the cycle of birth and rebirth. So, in effect, Scientologists believe in another form of reincarnation. The Bible speaks expressly against reincarnation, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb 9:27).” We have no preexistence in other bodies, and we do not come from outer space. The goal is to become an OT or Operating Thetan, who no longer needs his body and can leave it at will in the act of exteriorization, which is nothing but old timey astral projection that real witches have been practicing for Millennia.

Most people who join the church do so after reading the science fiction novel Dianetics. They follow with advanced levels and the hope of obtaining ‘clear’ in one lifetime. The goal is to be ‘clear’ of all pollutants in the mind, to be clear of all corruptive influences. To be ‘clear’ is to have perfect recall and be able to remember every moment of your life. On Aug 10th, 1950, Hubbard rented the Shrine Auditorium in LA, to demonstrate proof that he had in fact guided someone to ‘clear’ status, namely Miss Sonya Bianca a physics student from Boston. When she was questioned by members of the audience, she could not remember basic physics formulas nor the color of Hubbard’s necktie, which she had seen only moments before. People began to leave the auditorium swiftly after this as they could clearly see this woman was not at the level she claimed to be.

Friend, the theology of Hubbard is “wishy washy” at best. Scientology defines deity in three ways: Supreme Being, God and gods. Members are free to choose their concept of God. The Scientology Catechism states, “What is the Scientology concept of God? We have no dogma, in Scientology and each person’s concept is different… Each person attains his own certainty as to who God is and exactly what God means to him. The author of the universe exists. How this is symbolized is dictated by your early training and conscience.

The truth for the individual in Scientology is therefore subjective and existential at best. To quote Hubbard, “Know thyself…and the truth shall set you free.” which is in complete contrast to what Christ said, ” If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples; indeed, 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:31-32). Jesus gave an objective standard for truth and that was himself. Never is man called ‘truth’ in the Bible nor is man’s inner self. Hubbard also taught that, “truth is relative to environments, experience and truth.” If truth is relative in Hubbard’s thinking, then he can apparently justify holding two opposing propositions without contradiction. Therefore, there can become God and many gods simultaneously.

Hubbard also believes that some of the maladies that man battles with can be traced back to their former lives within the reincarnation cycle. For example, if you smoke, he claimed it’s because you got too close to a volcano in your previous life. If you suffer from a fear of falling, it’s because you were a sloth in your previous life and still have the memory of falling out of trees. And finally, vegetarians exist today because they got tired of being eaten by animals in their former lives.

Many people down the years have left Scientology and written books about the bizarre practices within the organization and the persecution and threats they’ve received when they tried to leave it. Famous scientologists who are mostly actors and actresses today include: Kirsty Alley, Anne Archer, Greta Van Sustersen, Michael Pena, Kelly Preston, Priscilla Presley, Billy Sheehan, John Travolta, Juliette Lewis, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Aspen and Edgar Winter amongst others.

Friend, consider these facts and meditate upon them, I ask you to do your own research. We need to pray for those trapped in Scientology that they would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Unfortunately, this religion concocted by Hubbard is literally straight out of the pages of a science fiction novel, because that’s precisely what it is, pure fantasy. Those who follow the teachings of Scientology may not realize that the founder of their organization based its tenets upon fantasy and nit truth. If they only knew they would surely choose Christ and hence the reason for this broadcast today. It is absolutely imperious that we study the founders of all cults and the actions that led to the formulation of these false teachings that lead men astray into damnation. I also wish to thank the late Dr. Walter Martin for some of his material, which has assisted me in compiling this message.”

Related keyword searches:

What is Scientology?
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