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My Escape From the New Age
(My Personal Testimony)
Many excerpts on this page and subsequent
section of LCM were taken from my book;
The Final Empire
©Copyrighted 1994
®All Rights Reserved
IN
1977, SOMETHING VERY STRANGE HAPPENED which affected me for the rest of my life. The whole
thing began on a cold day in January and February. One particular day I was close enough
to the small town of Institute, West Virginia to drop by the apartment for lunch. I did
that whenever possible because I enjoyed the hot meals and sandwiches that Linda would
prepare for me. As was common for this time of year, enough snow was on the ground to make
driving quite hazardous in places.
After a nice meal, I got
into my company car to go to my next customer, but to my dismay the car was stuck in the
snow. I tried for a few minutes to rock and spin my way out, but to no avail.
My landlord came out to
help, but being small in stature and in failing health, there was not much he could do.
After a few moments a guy in white coveralls which were splattered with various colors of
paint, came from across the road and offered his help.
With my landlord
driving, and this guy and myself pushing, the car finally eased out of the snow. I asked
"Coveralls" what I owed him. He surprised me by saying, "I’ll see you
in church." He then promptly turned and walked back across the street—before I
could find a gracious way to decline his request.
My landlord then
explained how "Coveralls" was the pastor of the local community church. I later
discovered that it was a rather conservative denominational church of the 'holiness' type.
It was a good thing that I did not know about the 'holiness' characteristic, or I would
have never walked through their heavy double doors on one of the most memorable and
life changing days of my life. I had seen enough people act down right silly and later
blame it on the 'Holy Ghost' that it had left an indelible bad taste in my mouth toward
this brand of 'Christianity.' (More about this shortly)
In any case, the church
was about two small blocks up the road from where my wife and I lived. This was also the
church my landlord attended.
After I had gotten out
of the snow and began to head back to work, I eyed the church closely—hoping to find
a reason not to go. Even though I had seen this type of denomination church in my home
town of Beckley, I had never been to one. Actually, after Linda and I had gotten married
and begin living on our own we did not go to church at all, unless we visited our folk, or
we had to attend a funeral or a wedding.
During this period of my
life there was some things about myself which bothered me. I had gotten involved with
pornography in my early teens. A number of times I gathered up my porn magazines and threw
them all away. But inevitably, after a short while I was compelled to purchase more. Each
time I did house cleaning I would tell myself I was finished with the whole mess because I
did not have to have it. But no matter how determined I was I would find myself back at
the nearest porn peddler in a month or so.
Finally, I began to
wonder if I was actually addicted to this stuff. However, at that time I did not
know such an addiction was even possible. I knew about people getting addicted to drugs,
gambling, alcohol, and cigarettes—but addicted to pornography? I had never heard of
such a thing. It goes without saying, I did not even think about talking to someone about
this. Firstly, I was too ashamed, and secondly, I did not want to admit to anyone I had a
problem I could not solve.
Eventually, I grew to
believe I was going to have to live with this dreaded secret for the rest of my life.
Believe it or not, I had learned to cope pretty well. I learned to accept my problem by
rationalizing it and trying to deny the moral implications so I would not have to deal
with the guilt. Since I did not seem to be hurting anyone I kept telling myself it was not
as bad as drugs or alcoholism. However, I grew increasingly concerned because this beast
of passion was gaining more and more ground and it seemed to be getting stronger and
hungrier.
Consequently, I got into
my other interests deeper—especially the occult—to keep busy hoping to find
those answers to questions that no one was asking. I even began trying to contact UFOs and
extraterrestrials telepathically. I was afraid people would think I had gone off the deep
end for sure if they found out about this. Yet, I would sometimes watch the sky for long
periods of time trying to catch a glimpse of a UFO.
At this point one could
wonder if I had become detached from reality. I do not believe so. I was performing my job
quite well and to my supervisor’s satisfaction. I was aware of my strange concepts
and activities being abnormal, rather than normal. I also maintained contact with friends
by visiting, being visited, going bowling, visiting parks to enjoy the out of doors and
etc. This was hardly the activity of a recluse or deranged person. To those around me I am
positive they would have considered me to be healthy, happy, and satisfied with life. And
these things I were—at least superficially.
However, my integrity as
a honest human being was deteriorating. I found myself repeatedly lying when the situation
presented itself. I also discovered I could cheat or steal when I wanted. However, these
acts did bother me and I began seeing myself for the type of person I really was. Frankly,
I was disgusted. To say I had a "poor self-image" was a gross understatement!
Around the last part of
the spring of 1977, I decided to pay the preacher back by going to church. I seemed to be
getting nowhere in my research on UFOs and the paranormal, nor had I figured out who or
what God was. I was also a bit curious about the church and I figured a visit
couldn’t hurt. I had figured wrong.
There’s not much
about that first Sunday morning I can remember. However, I do remember the preacher
reading out of the Bible—the Old Book which was written by dead people. What I
remember was Jesus being quoted in John 14:6 as saying; "I am the way the truth
and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me." I also remember Jesus
being quoted again from John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever would believeth in Him would not perish, but have everlasting
life."
What in the world was
this all about? The preacher was reading these words out of the Bible open before him, but
they didn’t sound dead like the old Book’s words used to sound to me. It used to
sound like an old history book—but this was different, penetrating, even convincing
and pertinent for modern thinking.
I began wondering about
my baptism and the other good deeds I had done. I felt good deeds had to be good for
something and doing them was something I was good at when I wasn’t lying, cheating or
stealing. However, a passage from Isaiah 64:6 was read or quoted which said, ". .
. all our righteousness are as filthy rags . . ."
I became very troubled
and was sorry I had gone to church that day. This did not sound like any religion I had
ever heard before.
During the course of the
sermon, I discovered the Bible claimed people did not get to be sinners by sinning, but
became sinners by being born into this world as descendants of Adam. If this was true, it
meant I was a born loser. Actually, this very notion had already crossed my mind more than
a few times. Like I said, my self-image was really taking a beating—and I resented
that very much.
In any case, I began to
wonder if I really was a born loser, what—if anything—was I or anyone else
supposed to do about it.
The answer seemed unfair
and too easy. John 3:16 had told me how Jesus Christ—supposedly a real historical
person—had died and suffered for me. Thus, I wondered how His death and
resurrection— something I did not understand—was supposed to help me.
It seemed the
Bible’s book of Romans 10:9–10 said salvation (God’s forgiveness of sin) is
granted when a person sincerely believes Jesus had been raised from the dead and they
verbally confess Him as their Lord (i.e. Master). Ephesians 2:9–10 said salvation is
granted purely as a result of grace (a gift of God) through faith (trust) completely apart
from any and all works—which includes baptism.
Thus, I understood
people were supposed to be saved merely by trusting Jesus of Nazareth to be who He said He
was—God’s only supernaturally born Son who died on the cross and was
subsequently resurrected. I further understood salvation was supposedly given freely to
any person who did believe this and asked God to save them.
I did understand, but it
all seemed much too simple. It seemed Christianity was not a religion of practices, but
instead it was the life and person of Jesus Christ. This was unlike any religion I had
ever heard of before. It seemed to me, the only thing a person could do was simply believe
or trust and there did not appear to be much virtue in that at all.
At some point during the
sermon, I began thinking about my addiction. I wondered even if what I had heard was true,
what was a person supposed to do about bad habits he knew he could not break. As the
sermon progressed, I discovered the Bible also taught the Holy Ghost of God would help one
to live like God wanted him to live.
Well, I didn’t know
much about the Bible or religion, but one thing I did know something about was the Holy
so-called "Ghost." I perceived Him as one rough character if He was
indeed real. I had seen the weird things people did when the "Holy Ghost got a
hold" of them. In some churches I had seen people vocally shout, scream, jerk around,
and sometimes even pass out because it was said the Holy Ghost had gotten a hold of them!
A few times some little old ladies even had to be taken by ambulance to the emergency room
to recover! Whatever it was, I believed any one who would beat up on little old ladies was
not nice, and I wanted nothing to do with it either. Needless to say, I wanted nothing to
do with this part of religion.
Now I had problems on
top of problems. If there was a traditional God of the Christian Bible I now knew I had
not earned His favor by being baptized or by changing flat tires for little old fat ladies
without charging them for my services. And if the Bible was right, I would go to a place
where fire would burn me forever if I died in my present state. Talk about being between a
rock and a hot place!
To add to frustration, I
still had not made contact with a "Superior Intelligence" by mental telepathy. I
still had not personally witnessed a UFO although I did not doubt their existence. And my
supposedly latent psychic powers were still latent. On top of this, my porn problem was
still picking up momentum. I was now attending triple X-rated movies and twenty-five cent
peep shows. What a mess!
Adding insult to injury,
I seemed to be having more than my share of close calls with automobile accidents. This
was more than nerve racking because I kept thinking I would probably go to Hell—for
ever, if I didn’t change and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I was uncomfortable
when it got to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.
During this time I also
experienced some pretty traumatic emotional shockers. An uncle I helped talk into going
into the hospital, against his wishes, died before coming out. Next, a great uncle from
whom my Father and I was named, Walter Furguson, died after a short bout with cancer. I
remembered his funeral well because the Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV, who was the
Governor of West Virginia at the time, and at least three other past governors attended
the funeral. In addition, on the fourth of July, a thirteen year old first cousin was run
over by a car while he was riding a bicycle. He died that night.
However, the most
frightening was yet to come. While driving to a customer's office, an automobile about two
cars in front of me went out of control and hit a telephone pole, shearing off a section
of the pole about ten feet long. The vehicle finally came to rest beneath three high
voltage power transformers which were bobbing up and down while being held up by the high
tension wires.
I stopped my vehicle and
ran to the smoking crushed mass of metal. A man on the passenger side had a severe gash in
his forehead which revealed his skull bone. He was unconscious. The lady, who had been
driving, was bleeding from a knot on her forehead and appeared to be dazed. She very
slowly asked me to get the door open. By this time, two other fellows had came to help,
but we could not get the passenger door open because it had jammed. The door finally
opened after all three of us began pulling on it. All of us were keeping an eye on the
transformers and the rest of the pole because we were afraid the high tension wires
holding it all up could snap allowing the whole high voltage mess to fall and snuff out
all our lives.
After getting the lady
out, we discovered the man’s leg was pinned in between the dashboard and seat. I went
around to his side of the vehicle and got his leg free and we finally got him out and laid
him on the medium divider till the ambulance arrived.
After all this, it did
not take a superior intelligence to figure out just how fragile my life was. I suddenly
realized even my next heart beat was not promised.
That same year I spent
more time flying to St. Paul for training with the 3M Company than I appreciated. Anytime
away from Linda seemed like an eternity. I was also beginning to develop a fear of flying.
I was always wondering if the plane would crash or not. My morbid preoccupation with death
was due to me believing if there was such a place as hell as described in the Bible, and
we crashed, I would land in hell—with or without the landing gear being down.
One day while in St.
Paul, I took a sincere and objective inventory of myself and came to realize just how
despicable and depraved I was. I knew something had to give. I desperately wanted a
change.
I cannot explain what
happened at this point—even to this day. However, I was suddenly convinced the Old
Book people referred to as the Christian Bible was indeed accurate and actually the word
of God. Thus, I believed Jesus had indeed died for me just as the Bible had said. I had
not been listening to any religious programs and no one had been trying to talk to me
about religious things, but I now believed there was a God and He wanted to forgive me and
make me one of His children—and I needed that.
Not fully understanding
how to reach out to God on my own right there in the Radisson Hotel, I could barely wait
till I got back to the church in Institute. I prayed to God and asked Him to get me safely
back home so I could receive His gift to me, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This was not
merely just another deal I was trying to work with God. This was a sincere plea.
This was about six
months after I had previously attended that first service in church back in Institute,
West Virginia. I did not understand why I then believed the Bible to be true, but I did. I
still had not cross examined the Writer nor had I really found any hard evidence to
examine. Nevertheless, with all my heart I believed it contained the truth.
The first weekend back
in Institute, I went to church and publicly received the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior.
That was in the fall of 1977.
I asked Him to help me overcome my pornography problem and He has done so even to the time
of writing this book over sixteen years later. He also helped me overcome the sin of
gluttony. As a result my weight went from a peak of 215 down to 165 pounds, and I did not
even go on a diet!
Needless to say, because
my weight came down to where I was no longer ashamed when I looked in the mirror, and also
because I was witnessing continual victory over the beast of pornography which had
controlled me for nearly eleven years, my self-image had changed drastically for the
better.
To add to my joy, Linda
also received the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal savior about two weeks after I did in
a revival at the same Nazarene church. There seemed to be a sense of oneness with us which
was beyond explanation. Also, during this time we were thrilled to become the parents of a
beautiful daughter.
During this time while
in this church I had become indoctrinated with the teaching that a believer could lose
their salvation, and also the teaching that the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second
distinct work of grace. But through ongoing Bible study I came to realize that these
teachings were not Biblical, and I renounced them.
At this point, I am
going to put my finger on the fast forward button. In doing so, I will relate some
pertinent highlights of things which happened from this point in my life to when I began
studying the New Age from a Christian perspective.
It didn’t take long
for me to discover the stories in the Bible were more readily believable than much of the
so called objective research done in parapsychology and evolution. I also found it more
readily acceptable than the material contained in my UFO literature. This does not mean I
made light of these other schools of thought and research, but it does mean if I could
accept the other stuff, which most others and even I would deem to be weird, why could I
not also accept the Bible for possibly being what it claimed to be. After all, I had
already given nearly everything else a serious audience.
I had already believed
the part of the Bible concerning the person of Jesus Christ. The rest was at least due an
audience and examination if I were truly objective in my broadened search. Thus, I began a
real study of what I now believe to be the word of God.
The story of the
creation of the world, in Genesis chapters one and two, was now like reading an ancient,
but recently discovered history book. I marveled at the simplicity, yet I also wondered at
the complexity of what had been brought about. I wondered what it would have been like to
have been there and witnessed these events.
Much of what I read made
sense. The impossible was now understandable to me. I did not understand the mechanics of
how God created the world, but I now knew the sequence and method of how it had been
created and in what stages and on what days. I knew plant life had been created like
light, before the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies had been created. I thought,
why not believe it? This was not some unprovable and incomplete theory or postulation, but
it was instead a complete detailed account of the impossible supernaturally occurring at
the hand of an Almighty God!
The more of the Bible I
read, the more of it I understood, and the more I understood, the more questions I had.
But even with the growth of questions came the peace of understanding the new things I had
been taught. I was no longer searching, I was now discovering.
In my early days as a
new believer, I purchased a book by Dr. Henry Morris entitled, The Remarkable Birth of
Planet Earth. This book not only showed how the Bible told the simple and clear story
of Earth’s creation, but it also showed how there was a plethora of scientific
evidence which supported the Biblical account. I nearly inhaled that little paperback
while on a plane to St. Paul for another training session. It seemed I was not only
becoming a man of faith, but I was also becoming a man who lived by truth which was also
scientifically viable.
I deem the Bible’s
story of God’s creation of the world scientifically viable because scientific
thinking requires that a hypothesis be entertained as plausible until it is proven
otherwise. Since the world is here, it appears something caused it, just as each product
requires a producer. Thus, for me, the challenge is not to prove God is, instead, it is to
prove God is not. Therefore, if a being such as God exists, then He could have created the
world just as the Bible says He did and the evidence seems to indicate. But that is
another book in itself.
When I was
searching the halls of the unknown for truth, it seemed the dark corridors never
ended. I was always on the brink of understanding or finding my answer around
the next corner—but it never seemed to happen. Instead of fulfillment, there was
frustration.
This was not
merely another paradigm shift, nor was it simply turning over a new leaf. My old
book was completely thrown away and I was given another with lily whites pages
waiting for new entries! It was not very long before I renounced all my
interests and endeavors with UFOs, ETs, psychic experimentation, and New Age
thinking. I also threw away all literature that dealt with the topic. But to my amazement, it was not God's
plan for me to be finished with the weird topics from my former life as a hard-core New
Ager!
A few years after
my spiritual rebirth, and after I had began to get a grasp on what the Bible teaches about the end-times, I suddenly
found myself thrust back into the strange material. But this time, I was not an advocate.
I was now an antagonist that began to work feverishly to expose what I now knew to be
demonic in nature and Satanic in origin and purpose.
Some years after my new lease on life the
television and movie industry began to focus more and more on the topic of ETs and UFOS.
Some episodes reminded me of something I had heard a few years earlier.
I had gotten about
ten years into conducting
research and investigations into the ET and UFO phenomenon. Suddenly, people
began to make publics claims about about the supposed existence of a covert military
base—somewhere in Nevada. They referred to it by different names such as, Groom Lake,
Dreamland, and Area 51. But whatever it was called, it seemed that their claims sounded
very much like the story the 3M technician told me back in the mid seventies.
My research has convinced me that
there is something very real to the phenomenon, but its true nature is often hidden behind
the razzle-dazzle high-tech light shows and mind-bending activities that usually accompany
human encounters with such. Keep reading to see why I believe so.
Walter Robinson II
Webmaster of LCM
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