Self-centeredness & the Generic “PEACE” Plan

“Self-centeredness is the root of practically every problem – both personally and globally.”
(Rick Warren, better together: What on earth are we here for? (Purpose-Driven Publ., 2004, p. 12)

“…[T]he fundamental regression is self-centeredness, or the illusion that you are separate from God. I ‘make war’ on self-centeredness. It shall surely be overcome. The child must become the adult. Human must become Divine. That is the law.” (p. 233)

Self-centeredness is a word that now has two definitions. The old definition, according to Webster’s, means “occupied or concerned only with one’s own affairs; egocentric; selfish.” The new definition is steeped in Theosophy. It means anyone who refuses to see themselves and others as part of the whole of humanity which is evolving towards godhood. This Theosophical definition is now being totally wrapped up into the concept of Global PEACE.

Warren Smith explains this new doctrine of “self-centeredness” in the original Chapter 2 of Reinventing Jesus Christ, now posted online:

“Hubbard’s ‘Christ’ describes how planet Earth is at an evolutionary crossroads. He states that the world is about to make an evolutionary leap that will take all creation to a new level. Those who awaken to their own divinity, by aligning themselves with God and one with each other, will evolve. Those who continue to believe in ‘fear’ and ‘separation,’ rather than in ‘love’ and ‘oneness,’ will not evolve.

“…Hubbard’s ‘Christ,’ while describing the ‘birth experience’ and affirming his love for all mankind, nevertheless warns that there will be no place in the ‘New Jerusalem’ for those who refuse to see themselves and others as a part of God. He describes, therefore, the necessity of a ‘selection process’ that will select out resistant individuals who ‘choose’ not to evolve. This ‘selection process’ is a ‘purification’ that will be accomplished through ‘the shock of a fire.’ (18)

“Christ states that those who see themselves as ‘separate’ and not divine hinder humanity’s ability to spiritually evolve. Those who deny their own ‘divinity’ are ‘cancer cells’ in the body of God. (19) ‘Christ’ warns that a healthy body must have no cancer cells. Cancer cells must be healed or removed from the body. He describes the means of removal as the ‘selection process.’ The ‘selection process’ results in the deaths of those who refuse to see themselves as a part of God.

“After the ‘selection process’ the spirit bodies of the departed individuals will continue to be ‘purified’ in the spirit realm. Hubbard’s ‘Christ’ emphasizes that they will not be given another physical body and they will not be able to rejoin humanity until they rid themselves of all ‘self-centeredness’ as ‘the illusion’ that one is ‘separate’ from God. The self-centered temptation to see oneself as ‘separate,’ and not as part of God, is ‘evil’ and must be ‘overcome.’ He also refers to self-centeredness, or this illusion of separateness, as ‘Satan.” (p. 16) [emphases added]

Barbara Marx Hubbard, a leading Theosophist who is working on a Global PEACE Plan, has not gone away into obscurity. If anything, she is more active than ever. She is now considered to be a “prophet.” And she was given a prestigious “Peace Builders Award” in Washington, D.C. in 2005. She was part of the original Global Renaissance Alliance, recently renamed Global PEACE Alliance, and is now working on national legislation pertaining to global “peace” (see Chapter 7 Update for Reinventing Jesus Christ).

Warren Smith describes a few of Hubbard’s recent activities in his update to Chapter 2 of Reinventing Jesus Christ:

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Evolve or Perish
On the first anniversary of September 11, 2001, Barbara Marx Hubbard surfaced as a speaker at the “Quasquicentennial Lecture Series on the Future of Higher Education” at Texas A&M University. The college newspaper The Aggie Daily quoted Hubbard as stating that the world was at an “evolutionary crossroads” and that “we have equal power to destroy ourselves or create and transform ourselves into something greater.” The title of her lecture was “A New Evolution for the Future of Humanity: 9/11 a Wake-up Call for the Next Step in Human Development.” Hubbard was also quoted as saying, “This generation in the next 20 years will be a deciding factor in human evolution…. None of us know how to guide a planet through this; there are no experts.” She warned that “Humanity must realize that we are on the threshold of fulfilling our greatest aspirations but we must consciously take hold of that evolution or perish…. Higher Education may be the first step toward that next state on the path toward evolution rather than destruction.”1

Barbara Marx Hubbard, however, did have a plan on “how to guide a planet through this.” Even as she spoke to this Texas audience she was being promoted as one of the featured “prophets” at an upcoming New Age “Prophets Conference” in Palm Springs, California.(2) The website describing the conference stated that Hubbard was a modern-day “prophet” who had a spiritual “blueprint” that could help guide the planet through its present crises. The “blueprint” was what she had channeled from her “Christ” and recorded in her book The Revelation: A Message of Hope for the New Millennium. So, while she was telling the Texas A&M group that “none of us know how to guide a planet through this,” she had already written a book on the subject and was about to give a scheduled talk at an upcoming “Prophet’s Conference” entitled “THE PLANETARY AWAKENING: How our generation can transform the world.” By presenting herself to the Texas A&M audience as a futurist and an educator– not as a New Age leader channeling “Christ” – Hubbard was being less than straightforward about her spiritual agenda. She was telling her Texas audience that humanity must “consciously take hold of its evolution or perish,” but she wasn’t disclosing what that really meant – spiritually evolve according to the dictates of her New Age “Christ ”or be killed! Accept the New Age/New Gospel teachings of the New Spirituality or be handed over to the “selection process.” She didn’t tell them what she had received from her “Christ” and written down over twenty years ago: how the “defective,” “self-centered” part of humanity that refuses to evolve by recognizing that God is “in” everyone, will have to be sacrificially killed for the higher purpose of world peace:

“‘No worldly peace can prevail until the self-centered members of the planetary body either change, or die. That is the choice. The red horse is the destruction during the birth process of those who refuse to be born into God-centered, universal life. They cannot go backward to the womb; they cannot go forward to the new heavens and new earth. They must surely die, or change.‘” (3)…

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After a brief overview of Hubbard’s recent political activities, Smith observes the parallels to her usage of the term “self-centeredness” and those of Rick Warren, as exemplified in the quotes at the top of this post:

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…Self-centeredness and Separation
Hubbard’s “Christ” warns that only those who are not “self-centered” or “separate” – who see God in everyone – will evolve:

…[T]he fundamental regression is self-centeredness, or the illusion that you are separate from God. I “make war” on self-centeredness. (7) [bold added]

The species known as self-centered humanity will become extinct. The species known as whole-centered humanity will evolve. (8) [bold added]

Sadly, many high profile Christian leaders – with perhaps the best intentions – use the word “self-centered” to describe a person’s emotional or spiritual state. For example, Saddleback pastor Rick Warren describes “self-centeredness” as the “root cause” of all of our problems. He writes:

Self-centeredness is the root of practically every problem – both personally and globally. (9) [bold added]

Because Rick Warren describes “self-centeredness” rather than sin as the root of all the world’s problems, he inadvertently presents a New Age worldview rather than a biblical worldview. In using the word “self-centeredness” rather than sin he has unwittingly adopted the language and the worldview of the New Age “Christ” rather than the language of Jesus Christ. For example, he used the words “self-centered” or “self-centeredness” fourteen times in his best selling book The Purpose-Driven Life.

Obviously there is no inherent problem with the term “self-centeredness,” or in using it as a figure of speech. However, to indiscriminately use words that have deep New Age meaning – without any warning about that New Age meaning – is to play right into the hands of the New Spirituality and the New Age “Christ.” In these perilous times in which we live, it is so important to know how words are being spiritually defined by those who would try to undermine the Christian faith through their schemes and devices and semantic traps. It can be very confusing when evangelical leaders like Rick Warren are sounding a little too much like Barbara Marx Hubbard.

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The Truth:

The Scriptures make it clear that “self-centeredness” is not the root of man’s problem. Nor can global “peace” activities eradicate this problem. Man’s basic problem is simply and concisely stated: SIN.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

The only remedy for this is Jesus Christ, which is expounded upon in subsequent verses in the book of Romans. And “peace” is personal — not global — as some would have us believe. It is only obtained in one manner:

“Therefore being Justified by Faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom we also have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)