Ex-New Age Guru Steven Bancarz Debunks the Universal Christ — The Alisa Childers Podcast #95

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Former New Ager Steven Bancarz joins me to explain the concept of the Cosmic Christ and Universal Christ, and analyzes Richard Rohr's popular book, The Universal Christ. Steven demonstrates how Rohr's theology does not align or originate with the Bible but with New Age ideas, and runs contrary to biblical principles.

From Steven's Facebook page: 

"Alisa Childers and I recently did a video project together where we spent just over 3 hours critiquing Richard Rohr's notion of the "Universal Christ". I read Rohr's recent release "The Universal Christ" in prep for this, and I honestly couldn't believe what I was reading. It was difficult and shocking, but I wanted to make sure I was representing Rohr accurately.

Rohr believes that "Christ" is not a person, but is rather the Divine Presence embedded in material reality. It's the amalgamation of matter and spirit, it's the indwelling divinity in every 'thing', it's the transcendent reality present in everywhere as everything. Your dog is Christ, Jesus was Christ, I am Christ, and the screen you are reading this on is Christ. There is nothing that is not Christ.

In this video, we document Rohr's christology extensively from the book, and break it down into four major claims he makes. We then address each of these claims systematically with two to six Biblical arguments against each claim. We then take a look at what New Age teachers have to say about a Universal Christ, such as Eckhart Tolle, A Course In Miracles, and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, where we document throughout the history of New Thought (and even Ascended Masters teachings from the occult) that Rohr's christology is nothing more than a recycling of what New Age teachers have been saying for the last 100 years.

In other words, if you take material dictated to Elizabeth Clare Prophet from alleged spirit beings known as Ascended Masters (as popularized in Blavatsky's theosophy) and compare them to Rohr's understanding of Christ, they are identical. I provide direct quotes from the "Ascended Masters" themselves, such as El Morya and Serapis Bey, to show how Rohr's christology is literally the teachings of demons by definition. She literally has a book called "The Path of the Universal Christ" which was written over a decade ago.

This is New Thought christology, this is New Age christology, this is Eastern mysticism christology, and we document this at length. We will also be doing a follow up in the near future to wrap off the study with one more category which we didn't have time for; addressing the verses about Christ "filling all in all", "uniting all things in Himself" and so forth.

I will post the article format of this in the comments when it's finally done (still working on it) where all primary quotes from Rohr, all refutations of his Christological claims, and all documentation of parallel New Age teachings on Christ will be provided.
Also, people have challenged me before to invite Rohr to a discussion. I do invite this and would love to have this discussion, and would be happy to speak with him about his Christology on any platform in any format."

Since this is such a long video, here are timestamps to help navigate the content: 

00:00 - 16:35 , Testimony & Introduction

16:35 - 1:00:40 , Quoting Richard Rohr to define and understand his "Universal Christ" teaching and offering spontaneous commentary

1:00:40 - 1:22:37, Giving seven Biblical arguments against Rohr's 1st claim that "Christ" indwells everyone AS everyone

1:22:37 - 1:25:28 , Giving three additional Biblical arguments against Rohr's 2nd claim that "Christ" dwells in rocks, grass, and the rest of nature

1:25:28 - 1:34:44 , Defining "ominipresence" and the contingency of creation on God Biblically (Here is the Reasonable Faith video we referenced)

1:34:44 - 1:40:23 , Giving two additional Biblical arguments against Rohr's 3rd claim that Jesus' "I Am statements" were said by the Universal Christ and NOT by Jesus

1:40:23 - 2:06:22 , Giving four additional Biblical arguments against Rohr's 4th claim that Jesus did not pre-exist His physical birth; the Universal Christ did, but the personal Jesus didn't

2:06:22 - 2:13:47 , Why do people choose to believe in the Universal Christ when the Bible is so clear it's a false teaching? Also, why following Jesus is more pleasurable than rebellion

2:13:47 - 2:22:07 , Comparing Rohr's Universal Christ with my old teachings as a New Age influencer, and with classic Hinduism/Eastern mysticism (prana, life-force, qi, & Brahman)

2:22:07 - 2:35:10, Comparing Rohr's Christology with that of Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, A Course in Miracles, Barbara Marx Hubbard (New Thought teachers), and Paramahansa Yoganada (Hindu Mystic)

2:35:10 - 3:04:29, Comparing Rohr's Christology with material dictated to New Age teacher Elizabeth Clare Prophet from spirit beings called "Ascended Masters", beings who first emerged in the Luciferian tradition known as "theosophy" started by occultist Helena Blavatsky and her theosophical magazine 'Lucifer' published in the late 1800s. Elizabeth Clare Prophet was a theosophist herself. These "Masters" (such as El Morya, Sanat Kumara, and Serapis Bey) dwell in the higher planes and taught her about the Universal Christ, which she wrote about in her book "The Path of the Universal Christ" written in 2003. Rohr's teachings are echoed verbatim from Luciferian material dicated by spirit beings (demons).


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