Thursday, June 29, 2017

Recognizing Rightly Rev. Moon and His Former Personality Cult Among U.S. Conservatives, But Not Seeing Another Blatant, Emerging Messiah


Recognizing Rightly Rev. Moon and His Former Personality Cult Among U.S. Conservatives, But Not Seeing Another Blatant, Emerging Messiah

By Julio Severo
How can the U.S. conservative movement be prone to false messiahs? In fact, how can a man very familiar with the influence of a false messiah among U.S. conservatives have no vision to see another messiah emerging with opportunistic and occultist ambitions among Catholic and Protestant conservatives?
Several years ago, I had long chats with a troubled Protestant who told me how the evangelical conservative movement in the U.S. was apostate and the evidence was the influence of Rev. Moon, a blatant false messiah, among them, especially because of his financial power and resources funding and “helping” them.
In fact, Rev. Moon’s influence was so incontestable that the largest conservative newspaper in America, the Washington Times, was in his hands.
Rev. Moon
The troubled Protestant, who is a fellow of the Inter-American Institute (IAI), was right. According to his own words in the chats, he was instrumental in the founding of IAI and in inviting and bringing fine minds to IAI.
IAI’s influential man is John Haskins.
Yet, his vision, which was so sharp regarding “apostate” evangelical leaders receiving money from the false messiah, was myopic regarding IAI’s internal affairs and reality.
IAI director, Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, is hardly surpassed by Rev. Moon as far as esotericism, occultism and megalomaniac messianism are concerned.
Carvalho founded in Brazil the first school of astrologers some 30 years ago. A Carvalho’s interview with Globo, the main news conglomerate in Brazil, published in May, 25, 2000, titled “A Casual Philosopher” said of him:
“For a time, [Olavo de Carvalho] devoted himself to Islamic studies — learned Arabic and recites the Koran passages — and won an award in Saudi Arabia in 1985 for a 200-page book (unpublished) about Muhammad, wherein he used knowledge of medieval symbolics to interpret episodes from the life of the prophet. He practices Christianity, but he says he would be comfortable to profess Islam. This is because, in his view, Christianity, Islam and Judaism have basically the same goal. The existence of God is to Olavo the supreme obviousness, the founding basis of everything.”
The interview was kept for 17 years in Carvalho’s personal website but was immediately removed after the publication of my article “What Draws Olavo de Carvalho to the United States?
Today, Carvalho brazenly says in Portuguese: “Protestantism was born from hatred and blood thirst. Its Christian inspiration is ZERO.”
Nevertheless, IAI Protestant members cannot read and understand his nonsense and even foul language, because he expresses them only in Portuguese.
His anti-Protestant diatribe is brazen for his ingratitude. Even labeling himself a “Catholic” (who would be comfortable to profess Islam), he did not want to stay in Brazil, the largest Catholic nation in the world. Instead, he chose self-exile, living as an immigrant in the largest Protestant nation in the world, even though he despises Protestantism. His blatant inconsistency led me to write: “What Draws Olavo de Carvalho to the United States?
As to Haskins, his troubled soul sees U.S. evangelical churches as “apostate” but is unable to see similar spiritual deceitfulness and dishonesty in the Brazilian self-exiled immigrant he chose to head IAI.
Why is not he able to see in Carvalho the same spiritual fraudulence he rightly saw in Rev. Moon and his conservative movement in America?
Has Carvalho funded him as Rev. Moon allegedly, according to Haskins’s words, funded U.S. evangelical leaders? Has Carvalho bought his silence?
Haskins knows that Carvalho is wrong on important issues. In 2013, when Carvalho began to revile me and attack me because I disagreed with him over his strident advocacy of the Inquisition’s revisionism, Haskins, who also silently disagreed with Carvalho on this issue, magnificently helped me write an article titled “Can a Pro-Life Activist Defend The Inquisition?” Many ideas in the article, including a comparison between the abortion industry and the Inquisition, came directly from Haskins, who nevertheless did not want to be credited for his extraordinary ideas. He preferred anonymity.
Carvalho is not a lesser bragging megalomaniac than Rev. Moon was, especially as far as an exotic conservatism is concerned. Carvalho’s alleged “anti-communism” came from what he learned in the Traditionalist School, which fused anti-Marxism conservatism with New Age ideas. The Traditionalist School was founded by the Islamic esotericist René Guénon, and Carvalho was one of the main introducers of this sorcerer and his New Age ideas in Brazil. Besides, he translated into Portuguese one of Guénon’s books.
Carvalho’s spirituality is syncretic, as syncretic are usually Catholics in Brazil. This is why spiritualism, esotericism, astrology, New Age ideas and Afro-Brazilian religions similar to voodoo are so popular among Brazilian Catholics. Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian esoteric writer, has books published by HarperCollins, the biggest publishing house in the United States, and among his admirers are Will Smith, Madonna and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Brazil is deeply esoteric and spiritualist and in this reality Coelho is just a mystic “Catholic.” Even though he is not as popular as Coelho, is it a wonder Carvalho’s considerable popularity among syncretic right-wing Catholics in Brazil?
But not only syncretic Catholics have been affected by his ideas. Fábio Blanco, one of the most passionate evangelical followers of Carvalho, even calling him a “father” in the Father’s Day, produced two revealing texts on May 2017. In one, titled “The Scientist and The Occultist,” he said, “The occultist is just a scientist.” In another, titled “Esotericism and Reformed Principles,” he complained, “In the Protestant view, there is just a simple division: believers and non-believers. To address esotericism, in this context, is impossible.”
In his search for conservative knowledge, he was engulfed by a seductive gnosis that drew him always from the Bible knowledge and the genuine conservatism the Bible produces in its readers.
Carvalho’s “philosophical” influence exhales esotericism on his Catholic and Protestant followers, drawing them away from the Bible and bringing them more and more to him and his gnostic ideas.
How cannot Haskins discern such influence?
Haskins is a very intelligent man and he has invaluable insights but his misguided vision, perhaps impaired by mysterious interests, has hindered him from seeing in Carvalho the same opportunistic and spiritually harmful conservatism he sees in Rev. Moon.
Yet, if he can accept Carvalho with his occult, mysterious and suspicious background, why cannot he accept Pat Robertson, Matt Barber, Scott Lively and other fine evangelical leaders? They are not apostate.
If he is able to see the damaging nature of Rev. Moon’s anticommunist messianism, why cannot he see the damaging nature of Carvalho’s anticommunist messianism? After all, he is not so smart as he imagines to be.
A self-professing Christian who does not see Carvalho’s spiritually syncretic, occult and damaging “conservatism” may be in a serious state of apostasy and, certainly, his spiritual vision is impaired.
If Robertson, Barber, Lively and other U.S. evangelical leaders are in an apostate pit, where is Carvalho? Where is Haskins?
Jesus said,
“You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:24 ESV)
Haskins has been straining out U.S. evangelical “gnats” and swallowing a Brazilian esoteric camel!
If, as Haskins believes, Rev. Moon’s influence on the U.S. conservative movement was damaging, what kind of influence does he think Carvalho has had on the Catholic conservative movement in Brazil?
How to explain that the man who is right on the false messiah in America has chosen not to see the exotic conservative messianism in a pseudo-Catholic self-exiled immigrant from Brazil?
If Carvalho’s influence on Catholic Brazilians is harmful, why has Haskins been working to extend it in America?
Recently, Carvalho launched a Brazilian movie, titled “The Garden of Afflictions,” exalting himself — a personality cult that is a typical behavior of Marxists and false messiahs as Rev. Moon, who was as conservative and anti-communist as Carvalho alleges to be. Knowingly or not, Haskins has worked to extend this Brazilian version of personality cult to America by propagandizing IAI.
The movie was directed by Josias Teófilo, whose main occupation was to lecture in theosophical lodges in several Brazilian cities. In 2014, in a speech at the Sírius Theosophical Lodge in Campina Grande, he spoke about the importance of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s spiritualist vision. Blavatsky, a pioneer in the New Age movement and the co-founder of the Theosophical Society in 1875, was an occultist, spirit medium. So no one better than Teófilo, an esotericist, to introduce another esotericist, Carvalho.
The movie was produced thanks to the donations of Carvalho’s followers, who follow him just as Moonies follow Rev. Moon and do whatever he commands them. By the way, one of the most prominent Brazilian Moonies was José Osvaldo de Meira Penna, who was profoundly connected to Carvalho.
Carvalho’s daughter Heloisa De Carvalho Martin Arribas has publicly exposed, on a June 27, 2017 Facebook post, that there was no accountability for the donations, adding that “he who takes money from honest people and deceives them is in the least a swindler.”
Not much different from the past. Students in the old school of astrologers sued their teacher, Carvalho, for swindle.
Not much different from Rev. Moon, who also was sued for swindle.
Carvalho’s daughter confirmed, in a Facebook post, that the movement of her father is similar to Rev. Moon’s movement.
Evidently, Carvalho is not as famous, in the U.S. and internationally, as Rev. Moon is. But what is Haskins waiting to see in him the same fraudulence and personality cult he sees in Rev. Moon?
If the new messiah becomes famous in the U.S., it will be by the virtue of IAI and Haskins.
Yet, an awareness effort can help. About ten years ago, I launched a successful campaign in Brazil about Rev. Moon’s harmful influence among evangelical conservative leaders, even in the Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus. Many evangelicals were warned.
I had also been invited by Moonies to be a part of their movement, with tempting offers, and their special temptation was an official invitation for me to write in the Washington Times. I refused the invitations, because I cannot work for false messiahs.
May my new awareness effort, about an emerging messiah, be helpful to evangelicals in Brazil.
Updated on September 28, 2017.
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