What Are The Principal Beliefs of Mind Control, Spiritism, Edgar Cayce and Hinduism?

In one way or another each of these cults focuses on the "universal consciousness" concept that human beings:

• are part of a vast, timeless consciousness
• are ultimately divine
• will live forever in various forms
• can communicate with the dead or various spirits in the universe through reincarnation
• can receive power through psychic and, in some instances, bodily exercise to transcend nature, understand mysteries, and affect their own destinies or the lives of those around them

These groups, in the name of "research and enlightenment," "psychic research," "transcendental meditation," "yoga," etc., are actually not in touch with some great "God consciousness" or psychic power but Satan and demons.

The Greek word "psuche" is translated "soul," and from that we get the term psychic. Most of these things deal with psychic, or soulish, phenomena. When people touch the true God, they do so through the human spirit. God does not work on the soul of man but the spirit.

The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said the psuchikos man, the soulish man, will not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him (see I Corinthians 2:14). Mind control, the Edgar Cayce teachings, and the new age movement all appeal to the soulish man, because they do not require repentance. They do not require being born again. A concept in most of these cults is that if a person gains sufficient knowledge, he can dominate and control the events of the world because he is part of god. He can manipulate god, because he is god. He is part of the universal consciousness, and as he opens himself up to progressive revelations, he in turn is lifted to higher and higher levels of understanding. As he advances, they teach, he gains authority over himself, his body, and those around him.

We must remember that the soulish realm is the realm of demons. Demons can and often do enter into this psychic area. The people who are in touch with the dead, in touch with "the other world," are not tapping into some universal consciousness. They are in touch with demons. Demons lurk behind the Hindu and other oriental religions, as well as behind the mind control teachings. As people try to exercise their soulish powers and manipulate others, they are trying to project themselves into this world of demonic power. They are not asking for a savior. They are not asking for forgiveness. Instead, they are asking for human power, for expansion of human psychic potential, and therein is their downfall. Those who stay with these beliefs long enough get deeper and deeper into them. They will sooner or later be in touch with, and perhaps even possessed by, demons.

The Bible does not tell us to get involved in sharpening our psychic powers. Such things are not of God. God will give people the wisdom they need through the Bible. And through the Holy Spirit, He will give them the power they need to live the life they are supposed to live. This inordinate seeking of knowledge about the future, the inordinate seeking of power over other people, the inordinate seeking of enhancement of human potential, is dangerous. Just entering into such activity is bad. I have heard of people who have started to levitate, and some who have had horrible faces appear to them in the night. All such things are symbols and signs that these people are in touch with demons.

Excerpt taken from Answers to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions, Copyright 1984 by Pat Robertson.