The Cosmic System, Mysticism and
Idolatry; 1 John 5:19-20
1 John
There is a direct
connection here between idolatry, cosmic thinking, in contrast to being of God
and operating on the truth. This has been a major theme in this epistle,
starting from 1 John 2:15 NASB “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love for the Father is not in him.” This is addressed to believers and clearly
indicates that believers can love the world and can love the details of life in
the cosmic system, and can have their thinking completely characterised by the
cosmic system, and that is in contrast to having a love for the Father. Love
for the Father is characterised by thinking God’s thoughts after Him; love for
the Father is indicated by keeping His commandments; to keep His commandments
we have to know His commandments; to know His commandments we have to study His
commandments. So that is the contrast between cosmic thinking and divine
viewpoint thinking. [16] “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the
Father, but is from the world.” It has its source in cosmic thinking. [17] “The
world is passing away, and {also} its lusts; but the
one who does the will of God lives [abides] forever.” Cosmic thinking is in
antagonism to everything in the spiritual life.
Part of the world system
is a rejection of Jesus Christ and who He is, and is a rejection of a biblical
understanding of who God is. If it doesn’t start with the God of the Bible, the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then it is a false god and the false god is an
idol. Cosmic thinking has idolatry at its very core.
1 John 5:4 NASB
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that
has overcome the world—our faith [doctrine].” So with doctrine we can overcome
cosmic thinking and this is grounded in a correct understanding of who Jesus
Christ is in terms of His deity. [5] “Who is the one who overcomes the world,
but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Key points on the cosmic system
1. General definition: The cosmic system is referring to
Satan’s orderly, cohesive and multi-faceted system of thinking which includes a
purpose, policy and structure of authority designed to subvert the human race
and gain control over the world he now rules. We get the word “cosmic” from the
Greek word kosmos [kosmoj] and it refers to that which is orderly and
structured. So when we talk about worldliness we are not talking about
particular behaviour patterns as much as we are talking about a certain
structured way of thinking. The Bible presents the fact that there are
different ways of thinking about reality. There is God’s way of thinking about
reality and there is the creature’s way of thinking about reality that aligns
itself with Satan. By saying the cosmic system is orderly we see the fact that
there is logic to it. It is internally consistent if we grant the assumption of
Satan, and that is that the creature has the right to define reality. (Whenever
we are in a debate, if we grant the assumptions of our opponent, if our
opponent is logically consistent with his assumptions, we have lost the debate.
That is if we allow him to get away with it. If his assumptions are true then
everything he says based on that, if he is logically consistent, then his
argument can’t be refuted) It is multi-faceted which means there are lot of
different dimensions to it. They may be religious or philosophical, but every
one of them says something about ultimate reality and what ultimate reality is
like. Ultimate reality to the believer is God. The term metaphysical has to do
with the study of ultimate reality and we have today a rise in metaphysical
religion in the whole new age movement. Usually what is meant by the term
metaphysical religion today, as opposed to the classic study of metaphysic
philosophy, is usually some form of new age mysticism or transcendentalism, or
even séances and necromancy which are all part of a metaphysical religious
system. All of these different types of thinking are simply different
manifestations of Satan’s original thinking at the time of his fall. All of
these systems have a purpose, policy and structure. Their purpose is all
designed to subvert God’s authority. They contain various policies and
structures of authority designed to subvert the human race and gain control
over the society of man which Satan now rules.
2. The cosmic system, then, is a reflection of the
thinking that characterised the fall of Satan. We can summarise that with two
words: autonomy and antagonism. The word “autonomy” comes from two Greek words:
autos [a)utoj] meaning
self; nomos [nomoj] meaning law—self-law. This emphasises the fact that
the creature considers himself to be the ultimate determiner of law or reality.
So that the creature, then, has the right to determine reality. As reality the
creature defines values (what is right and what is wrong), what should be
worshipped and what should not be worshipped, ethics, norms and standards,
right and wrong. Under the category of antagonism we are talking about
hostility to divine viewpoint. So at every point Satan is hostile or
antagonistic to divine viewpoint, even though at the surface it may present a
system of religion that seems compatible with Christianity. That is why we have
certain Christian cults—they borrow certain terminology and methodology. There
may seem to be compatibility with Christianity but there is a complete
breakdown of this once we get inside the system. In autonomy Satan is saying
that he the creature has the right to be like God, he has the right to determine
what is right and wrong. In antagonism he is hostile to everything that God is
attempting to do.
3. Autonomy is the self-oriented feature of the cosmic
system which elevates the creature to the position of final authority for
determining reality and truth. Antagonism is the God-oriented feature which
expresses the creature’s rejection of and hostility toward the plan of God, the
Word of God and the people of God. As James said, a friend of the world (cosmic
system) is at enmity with God. It is either/or; there is no compatibility
between the two systems.
4. The root characteristic, therefore, of cosmic thinking
is a rejection of the creator-creature distinction. This is a foundational
doctrine that needs to be developed a little. There is a distinction between
God as the creator and man as the creature, and every single pagan way of
thought, philosophical or religious, all break down
eventually in terms of a violation of the creator-creature distinction which is
unique to a biblical perspective. It is in contrast to every other form of
thinking.
5. The most important and distinguishing characteristic
of the God of the Bible, i.e. the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is that He
is the creator. This is fundamental to the entire Bible. That is why the debate
over creation versus evolution is so important. Origins affect everything—every
metaphysical system, every religious system, every philosophical system has
some view of ultimate origins. It is that view of origins that in turn affects
everything—the view of knowledge, the view of the makeup of man, values, norms
and standards, law, politics, economics, history, education. Every single issue
in life goes back to origins. If we try to compromise what the Bible says with
any human viewpoint system of origin we are undercutting everything else in the
Bible. The importance of this doctrine is illustrated in Revelation 4:11 NASB
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive
glory and honor and power; for You created all
things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” The context
of that verse is the throne room of God; it takes place in the future, the time
of the beginning of the Tribulation. Why is the Lord deemed worthy? The
emphasis here is not on the fact that He is the redeemer but first and foremost
because “You created all things, and because of Your
will they existed, and were created.” Biblically redemption and God’s plan of
salvation is built on the foundation of His role as creator. Redemption is
meaningless if it is cut loose from the doctrine of God as the creator of
everything. Again and again when we are given an explanation or content of Paul’s
evangelistic message to the Gentiles in Acts he begins his witness to a Gentile
audience, not at the tomb, not at the cross, not with sin, but always with
creation. If we don’t have the God we are being saved by as the creator God
then the God we are being saved by is just any other god. They have to be
distinguished. E.g. Acts
6. The Bible’s presentation of God as the creator: He
creates ex nihilo,
from nothing. God, according to the Scripture, is completely distinct from all
creation. By contrast, in human viewpoint all the pagan deities are part of the
creation. Creation is always explained as a natural process, so that the gods
are all part of the process, there is no ex
nihilo creation. There are these gods who either
create the universe described in the sense of procreation in which one of the
gods gives birth to the universe, which means it comes out of them (it is not
creation ex nihilo,
it is created from something already there), or some god is slain and his body
is cut up and spread out to become the universe. So the universe, then, is
equal to these gods or goddesses. That is where the idea of pantheism, that the
universe if God, comes from. There is no point where there is nothing, so this
is in complete contrast to the biblical view of God as distinct from all matter
and all creation in the universe, and all pagan systems. The difference is that
according to the Bible, on the divine viewpoint side, the ultimate reality is
distinct from the universe and is defined as a person with whom we can have a
personal relationship, a person who thinks and interacts with man. In paganism
the gods are all part of the material universe, so ultimately there is no relationship,
we are pushed back to something that is ultimately simply material in one sense
or another. Furthermore, in paganism usually what creates this is some sort of
chaos. Under human viewpoint, then, it is the creature or some cog in the
mechanism of nature that determines the nature of problems and their solutions.
So something inside determines reality whereas biblically God, who is outside
the system, determines reality. If we start with the God of the Bible we can
draw three conclusions: a) Because He is a thinking God
He has a plan. This isn’t something that is purely random; b) that plan is
expressed by His Word. As a person He communicates and He has communicated in
such a way that He can be understood by man. Truth, then, is what corresponds
to His Word. So in biblical viewpoint we can have truth with a capital T. In
contrast, if we start with creation from inside then we have chaos and chance
rule because there is no ultimate certainty because the only thing that brings
order and stability out of chaos is the creature and it is only a temporary
order, a semblance of order; c) the creature, then, is the one who determines
reality; d) that means that man becomes the one who determines truth, values,
problems and solutions. Truth becomes relative with a small t.
7. When man determines the nature of God that is
idolatry. When man sits inside the system and says God must be this way, that
way, or another way, and creates in his own mind a concept of what God is and
what God must be like, that is idolatry. Idolatry does not start with external
images of wood and stone, idolatry begins in the soul when the creator God of
the Bible is rejected and man on his own begins to supplement that with his own
ideas. This is what Paul states in Romans 1:21-23 NASB “For even
though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God
or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish
heart was darkened.
8. Therefore in autonomy man, as man is a law unto himself,
seeks to be the final determiner and definer of reality. These constructs of
reality, whether they take the form of religious expression or philosophical
speculations, are all forms of idolatry. What happens in idolatry is that the
creature takes something inside creation, the system, some detail of life, and
elevate it to the position of God. An example of this kind of deification is
expressed in what has come to be known as mind-science cults. These are cults
that glorify human thinking, that human thinking can shape and determine reality.
These are expressed in terms of non-religious ideas, as well as in religious
ideas, e.g. Christian science, transcendentalism. In
more non-religious ideas sensitivity training, mind control, etc., where
thinking determines reality. Sometimes this is called positive thinking, the
power of positive thinking, i.e. ultimately your attitude, your thinking
determines reality. The idea behind all of these mind-science cults is that you
can create and manipulate your own reality. One of the primary techniques that is used in these systems is called creative visualisation. Sometimes
it is called centring, sometimes it comes under the guise of relaxation therapy
and self-hypnosis techniques, but the most common term is creative
visualisation. There is usually in all of these systems some sort of emphasis
on healing, various techniques that can be mastered to help trigger “God’s”
healing power, the healing power of the universe, that there is a need to learn
how to think certain ways, say certain things, and they talk about faith a lot.
But faith isn’t viewed as trusting and relying upon the truth of a revelatory
statement of God, which is what faith is in Christianity.
Faith is a power, simply believing that what God says is true and relying upon
it. But in these cults and metaphysical religions faith is used as an inherent
power, that if you get it right it is going to release the healing power of the
universe, and that will be defined in some way as
spirituality. The warning here is that these techniques are also the same
techniques that are used in the pagan religions to generate various mystical
experiences, visions, and to introduce an altered state of consciousness. Altered
state of consciousness does not mean that one becomes unconscious or
trance-like, but it does orient to this metaphysical realm where the mind becomes
open to the so-called powers of the universe. What this really does is set a
person up for demon possession, or demon influence if one is a believer.
1 John