Wolves in Sheep's Clothing? The 'Evangelical' Struggle to keep you from the truth

Equipping the Saints? Or Disarming them? You be the judge!


There have been enormous efforts and huge sums of money spent to keep the Christian world from knowing the size and extent of the New Age Movement and its growing powers. I have kept silent most of the time on most of what I know not because I wanted to keep people from the truth, but because of Jesus' clear warnings that the wheat and the tares would grow together until the time of the end and to do nothing about the tares because in pulling up the tares, one might also harm the wheat. It is only when I see the wheat itself harmed that I speak out. I believe for people to now know what is coming, that they know how insidious this battle has been.

When I started my work against the New Age Movement in 1981, I thought it would be very simple -- Christian vs. Lions. It wasn't quite that easy. Some of who I believed were US were either apathetic or THEM. Some of THEM repented and became staunchly US. Some of the lengths gone to suppress -- even blackball me and my work -- were truly amazing. A Seattle, Washington Christian (Logos Bookstore) was selling many New Age books on its shelves. My book, THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW, then a #1 best seller on the Christian best seller list, was sold under the counter. It was packaged in a plain brown paper wrapper, stapled shut with a critical article on my work from Christianity Today inside. Matthew Fox authored (a Catholic apostate theologian, later removed by the new pope as Cardinal Ratzinger acting in his position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) books were sold very openly.

I was asked to participate in a conference for Evangelical Ministries to New Religions at El Toro, California in December 1983. This was a time immediately after my father's death and I have detailed some of this in my second book, A PLANNED DECEPTION. In El Toro, I was asked to present my proofs on the existence of the New Age Movement. The panel behind me who was to comment on my work included CRI's Eliot Miller; Cornerstone Magazine's Eric Pement; Brooke Alexander of Spiritual Counterfeits Project; and Dave Hunt, who I then believed to be my ally.

In my main talk, I detailed the inroads Jeremy Rifkin had made in evangelizing evangelicals to the environmental paradigm shift of the New Age Movement. The question and answer period was truly amazing. I had no idea what would be thrown at me. I had packed one large book bag and it accompanied me that evening. Time after time I was accused both by members of the panel and members of the inquisitorial audience of taking the New Agers out of context. I would say, "well, let's read it together." I would pull the exact book from my briefcase. That I had the proper books with me to defeat their claims of misquoting can only be attributed to either extreme luck or divine intervention. It was statistically impossible given a library of my size to have had it happen accidentally. Of course, I believe it to be the latter. I obviously had help!

The next major thrust against me was what I term the "Denver Disinformation Conference" which took place at the Denver Seminary on March 14-15, 1985 in Denver, Colorado. I was not invited. A few days before, a cult research by the first name of Hugh called me. He said he had called to register, left his credit card number with Dr. Gordon Lewis' secretary at the Denver Seminary. The Denver Seminary is a Conservative Baptist institution. Dr. Lewis was coordinating the conference. Dr. Vernon Grounds was the Chancellor. People from that seminary were to play a major role in a unity conference with New Age leaders in conjunction with Doug Coe in 1987, but this was 1985.

At any rate, Hugh, my caller, said that he asked the registrar, Dr. Lewis' secretary a natural question, given that this was the first recognition in the Evangelical world that the New Age Movement even existed outside of the imagination of yours truly. "Would Constance Cumbey be there?" He said that she replied as follows: "This conference was called on account of Constance Cumbey" and we will have security guards present, just in case she decides to show up."

This was hard for me to take. I started crying. I said, "this time they've gone to a new low." My caller said, "you know, you could go anyway." I said, " no, I practiced law long enough to know that if they would go to those lengths, they would go even lower. They would trump a disturbance and blame me for it. They would like nothing better than for me to be sitting in a Denver jail -- I'm not going to give them the satisfaction."

God's timing is very interesting. I have never had anything like this happen without getting confirmation shortly thereafter. The very next morning I had a phone call from a man identifying himself as a producer for a Denver professor who had a popular religion oriented talk show on Denver radio each and every Sunday morning. He said that they had planned to give the time for the Sunday after the conference to a participant -- hopefully Ronald Enroth. He went on to say, that he had the professor had been talking and wondered out loud why at last there was an Evangelical conference on the existence of something that had been long denied -- and that the most recognized Evangelical figure on the subject was not a part of the conference. I recounted something unpleasant that had happened to me concerning Ronald Enroth. Then I told him what I had just heard the night before -- about the security guards.

"Why I know the person in charge of security," exclaimed the producer. His name is Mark Roggeman and he's a local policeman. Let's get him in on this conversation." Mark Roggeman joined the conversation in what became a three way conference call. He told me a most amazing story. Mark Roggeman was a Denver policeman who then and now was working on cult related issues. He is also a Christian. He said he was thrilled that after three years of denial, that finally there was Evangelical recognition of a New Age Movement problem. He heard they were seeking a Security Director and applied for the job. He said that upon hiring he was summoned into Gordon Lewis office and told his first, foremost and primary responsibility was to escort Constance Cumbey off the grounds, should she show up. Mark told me he said to Lewis, "that's how the cults operate." Lewis told him, "you want the job, that's the condition." Roggeman told me he decided to stick around and see what else they had up their collective sleeves.

"What else" included Dr. Gordon Melton, a rabid New Age follower in nearly all of its forms, including vampirism and Ramtha the 35,000 year old man deliver a paper, "A Christian Response to the Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow." He was wearing an ankh and selling his paper promoting astrology on the grounds.

I was offered radio time -- two national interviews -- on the Marlin Maddoux Show on the two days immediately preceding the conference. I gave the doings and their security guards more free advertising than they ever expected. I understand they ran around red faced and said it had not happend -- but it clearly happened.

I say all of this now because Gretchen Passantino published prominently on the web, a paper on urban legends. She includes as one "urban legend" the security guard story. I'm sorry to say it but Gretchen Passantino was close enough to the action on this gang to know better. It is bluntly -- a lie!

http://answers.org/apologetics/fantasy.html
http://answers.org/bookreviews/painted_black_rev.html
http://www.equip.org/free/DC825.pdf

Equipping the saints? I would say this bunch was disarming the saints. That's all for now. Enjoy the balance of your weekend!

CONSTANCE E. CUMBEY
cumbey@yahoo.com