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Fillmore's Counterfeit Christianity

"Scientific Christianity" was designed to counterfeit true Christianity by changing the meaning of all the biblical terms to suit this new religion. It was based upon positive thinking, which became the new definition of "faith." Faith became the means to being healthy, wealthy, and wise, rather than to be justified. God became an impersonal "force," rather than a Person. Metaphysics replaced spirituality.

But the most important change, which truly made the biggest difference was that Jesus became a Teacher, rather than a Saviour. The Unity Church published Answers About Unity's Teachings and Beliefs, saying about Jesus,

"Jesus was a special person in history who expressed perfection and thereby became the Christ, or Jesus Christ. He was a Teacher who demonstrated the importance of thoughts, words, and deeds in shaping the life and world of the individual."

What is Salvation? In their typically deceptive way, they define it first by a statement which all can agree upon, and then they "piggy-back" it with their own lie to slip it past the unsuspecting reader:

"Salvation is now--not something that occurs after death. [Yes, of course!] It happens whenever we turn our thoughts (repent) from fear, anxiety, worry, and doubt, to thoughts of love, harmony, joy, and peace. The 'fall' takes place in consciousness whenever we fall into negative habits of thinking."

In other words, Salvation has nothing to do with Jesus paying the penalty for sin by dying on the cross. Salvation is obtained by our own self-effort--with Jesus as our Teacher--when we think good thoughts.

On page 6 of the Foreword to Fillmore's book, Jesus Christ Heals, we read this:

"By careful thinking and wholehearted concentration on God, Jesus made such complete union with creative Mind that His body was transformed in the presence of His disciples."

Fillmore taught that we may all be transfigured as soon as we concentrate on God as Jesus did. It is all by the power of the human mind. Though Jesus was a great Teacher, He really was not necessary, for anyone could do this, if he could figure out what thoughts to focus upon.

Jesus Christ Heals, begins with the example of Lazarus, who, he says, healed himself after Jesus woke up the "soul life" in Lazarus. After Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth," . . . "Then the soul life in Lazarus resurrected and restored the seeming dead body, and Lazarus arose and walked out of the tomb."

So, you see, Lazarus only SEEMED to be dead. Jesus' faith woke up Lazarus' "soul life", which in turn "restored the seeming dead body."

Is that really what happened? That is not what the Bible says. Scripture teaches clearly the difference between soul and spirit. The soul is the old man within us, which we got from Adam. There is a spiritual man, a new man within us as well. Fillmore thought that the old man, the "carnal mind," could become the spiritual mind and save us. "The mind is the seat of perfection," he said on page 49. This was the Greek view that the (carnal) mind was divine.

In fact, that carnal "soul-life" man has already been condemned to death, and Fillmore himself could do nothing to stop it. Fillmore actually expressed the belief that by thinking positively, he could circumvent death. But he died in 1948.

What I despise most about Fillmore is how his writing is deliberately and expertly designed to deceive people. I know something about writing. I think I have done enough of it to be an expert in this field. But my writing is designed to make things understandable and clear. Fillmore's writing is designed to boil frogs slowly, so that by the time they discover the meaning of his terms, it is too late to escape the boiling water.

On page 29 he writes:

"Spirit is not matter, and Spirit is not person." In his usual fashion, the first half of the sentence is true, while the last half contains the hidden lie. On page 34 he tells us,

"The fundamental basis and starting point of practical Christianity is that God is principle. By principle is meant definite, exact, and unchangeable rules of action."

"God is principle," and principle is a set of "rules of action." On page 25 he defines God further, saying,

"God is power; man is powerful. God is that indescribable reservoir of stored-up energy that manifests no potency whatever until set in motion through the consciousness of man. . ."

Fillmore acknowledges that God is Spirit, but he says that "Spirit is not person." God is principle, power, and rule of action, which "powerful" man must use and utilize in order for it ("God") to have any effect. In other words, Fillmore was a classic ATHEIST, though he used the term "God" to deceive others into thinking he was a religious man. Yet he promoted secular religion in the guise of "Scientific Christianity."

On this is based his view of "faith." It is not faith in Jesus Christ, or His Sacrifice on the Cross for one's justification. No, it is "faith in spiritual power" (p. 47). Faith was nothing more than positive thinking and repeated verbal affirmations for the purpose of obtaining what one "believes." If you believe it, you can have it. Jesus Himself stands on the sidelines as a divine cheerleader, but you do it by the power of your own mind and will. On page 101, Fillmore defines faith:

"That is what faith is. It is the consciousness in us of the realities of the attributes of mind. Before we can have the substance of faith, we must realize that the mind creates realities."

Out of this has come songs like "I Believe," portraying secular faith that believes in everything except Jesus Christ. Fillmore puts it this way on page 102, "If you get a good strong perception of something that your inner mind tells you is true, act upon it, and you will find that it will come true." Again, on the next page, he writes, "You must have faith in your spiritual capacity."

Fillmore taught that God was the great impersonal force--the laws of the universe--and compared Him to a field. What you sow, you will reap. If one sows in this "field" by one's positive affirmations, one will reap a harvest according to the quality of seed sown. Thus, God has become an impersonal field which, if cultivated and manipulated, can be used to obtain all the desires of men's hearts.

In other words, religion and faith were turned into a "science" of the mind. It went beyond test-tube science as such by recognizing an unseen, metaphysical realm. But it went beyond Christianity by postulating this unseen realm to be devoid of a personal God. The metaphysical realm operates by natural laws, as does the material world, he said, and man can tap into that for his own benefit by the power of positive thinking, called "faith."

Gone is the idea of sin, for sin is just ignorance and lesser ways of thinking. Gone is the idea that sin is an offense that requires a blood Sacrifice (death) as its penalty. Gone too is the need for a Divine Sacrifice in the Person of Jesus Christ to pay for sin. Man has become the only god in the universe, and all things depend upon his "faith" and "affirmations" to obtain good things and to save the world.

Man's consciousness (mind), he said, is the only real power in the universe. Fillmore provided people with a new expression of the original lie, "you shall be as gods." It is cloaked in Christianity and in biblical terms, but it is the old belief in the divinity of man. This is the root of New Age religion. The Prosperity Movement re-instated a personal God into Fillmore's secularism, but retained his ideas of manipulating God like an impersonal field in order to prosper.