Crystal is Breakable
Man’s Positive Thinking Shatters
What does it mean when one of man's most splendid religious works, built by the power of positive thinking, goes deeply into debt and is abandoned by its creditors? Didn't God say that those who believe and obey (positive doing) will be the lenders (givers) and not the borrowers (takers)? Wisdom has much to say to those who have ears to hear.
“For He brings down those who dwell on high; He lays low the lofty city; He lays it low, even to the ground; He brings it to the dust” (Isaiah 26:5 MKJV).
Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral has filed for bankruptcy. What an exposure of the fallacy of the religious/philosophical doctrine of “positive thinking,” or at least of its proponents like the “Reverend Doctor” Robert Schuller!
So why did the power of positive affirmation and visualization weaken and disappear? I suppose it was conditional upon having a positive economy. Is there any doubt, however, what “Doctor” Schuller would have counseled those who blamed their hard times on the economy or some other external factor? “It’s not about your circumstances; it’s about your attitude!” he would say (and this is true).
So what is the attitude here? I guess exposure is what clear glass is all about, and the message is crystal clear, as big as a cathedral for all to see through. This glass house needed no stones from strangers. This was clearly an internal phenomenon.
On June 23, 2009, Dana Parsons reported on the new role of Robert Schuller’s eldest daughter, Sheila Schuller Coleman. “While the family tries to heal [referring to a great rift between Robert Senior and Junior], the Crystal Cathedral must ramp up its efforts, Coleman says. The plan is to hire an evangelist to lure non-churchgoers and to improve marketing of the ‘Hour of Power.’”
Isn’t that putting the horse behind the cart? Are these the kinds of tactics God must resort to? Is it about luring supporters for the sake of the operation, or isn’t the work supposed to be there for those in need? Is it a matter of seeking support to meet physical needs of the enterprise, or is it about going forth and freely meeting spiritual needs?
The downfall of the “Hour of Power” (the power of darkness coming by the one who poses as an angel of light – Satan) is a classic demonstration of the end of men’s works in the Name of God. We need to discern the difference between a true, loving work of God and the proud, vainglorious works of men; God reaching out versus men grabbing; God there for men’s sakes versus men there for their own sakes. The day the work exists for itself is the day its intended recipients (whom the work should be for) should flee without delay, lest they pay with their lives.
“Who can possibly miss the message?” one may ask of this event, but the tragedy is that millions miss it all the time. People will continue to follow their chosen charismatic leaders even to the grave. And some may do it thinking they please God with their blind devotion to charlatans who have no faith in God. A “prophet” may predict a Second Coming or Doomsday date, be found obviously wrong when the time comes… and what happens? Some fall away, but surprise, surprise, many stay, ready for another prediction (Jehovah’s Witnesses, a splendid case in point). The power of deception is astounding.
In this day – this great day of the Lord and His judgment – giants will tumble and are tumbling, in all circles and fields. God is finished winking at the words and works of those who think they can spout out their proud, presumptuous, vain notions to the world in Jesus Christ’s Name and get away with it. There is a Judgment Day, after all, a day of exposure and reckoning; only those who get real and honest and wholly repent of their self-serving ambitions and ostentatious works will survive. God will spare the humble, but abase the proud, make no mistake.
For much more guidance on what is false and what is true, see The True Marks of a Cult and Diabolical Doctrines.
Victor Hafichuk