The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Yet Another False Messiah – Lord Maitraya

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As we barrel down the winding road like a car without brakes towards the Tribulation, many await the return of the Messiah, the Savior who will rescue the world from itself. For some Christians, we are looking to the soon return of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah and only real Savior of the world. And for some Muslims, they are looking for the Mahdi, a false messiah to come and conquer the world for Islam. But, while many Christians focus on the soon return of Jesus or in exposing the falseness of the Muslim Mahdi, we have failed to notice that another large segment of the population is looking towards the rise of yet another messiah. They are the followers of the Eastern and New Age religions, and they are waiting for Lord Maitraya.

Jesus warned in Matthew 24:4-5 to “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” True to this verse, as we draw within a mere breadth of Jesus’ soon return, it seems that everybody is looking for a messiah. Even those that don’t adhere to any religion are looking for scientists, philosophers, or comic book heroes to come to life and save the world from what everybody who hasn’t been living in a cave now realize — the world is on the brink of something too big for mankind to handle.

Our friend at Olive Tree Ministries, Jan Markel, has written an excellent article on Lord Maitraya and his followers. Her article shows that there are more than one big player vying for the role of the Ultimate False Messiah.

Desperate Sheep Without a Shepherd

The “New Age Movement” (NAM) has been around since the days of literal Babylon. It gained new strength in the late 1800s and even more in the 1960s, which was the “Age of Aquarius.” While all participants are not occultists, they all do love the supernatural and experiential. They have many “gods.” And they believe the delusion that mankind is getting better and better. Because they believe such a myriad of ideas, some call these misguided seekers “cosmic soup.”

In the 1980s, I gave seminars on this “new spirituality,” which it has been renamed in the 21st century. I studied it then and knew it almost as well as those who were enjoying their altered states of consciousness. Thankfully, I wasn’t.

In more recent years, the cause has been furthered by the woman who never met a false teaching she didn’t love — Oprah Winfrey. She has paraded one guru after another on her many platforms and made most of them wildly successful.

In 1982, I chuckled at who I thought was just another deluded crackpot, Benjamin Crème, who was taking out full-page ads in multiple newspapers announcing the soon-arrival of Lord Maitraya. This superhero was to come on the scene for the benefit of all religions and belief-systems. He was to be the new “messiah.” And while these deceived followers of mystical enlightenment fully believed he could save the world, I wondered if he was just a fantasy in the esoteric minds of Crème — a John the Baptist type — and many NAM idealistic dreamers.

But now 25 years later, TV commercials are airing about Lord Maitraya! Why was I a doubter? As a matter of fact, Benjamin Crème and references to Maitraya are found all over the Internet’s favorite pastime, YouTube. In the minds of Maitraya’s followers, he is just over the horizon ready to appear in his mystical, Eastern glory.

Once again we see the foundation for the one-world religious system forming. As Chuck Missler said on my radio program this past weekend (February 28), the apparitions of Mary, which are all over the world now, will be a uniter of religions because so many respect her, including Islam. The Vatican, in fact, may become the infrastructure for the one-world religion.

Clearly this “New Age Movement” or “new spirituality” will play a prominent role in the global religion. The antichrist will allow the “false prophet” to have a lying-signs-and-wonders party for 3 1/2 years and that’s it. From then on, only “Mr. Fix-it” can have all the glory. Only the “man-with-a-plan” will have the spotlight after that.

In my study for my seminars some years ago, I learned quickly that almost all who are a part of the cults and false religious systems are like sheep without a shepherd. They are desperate, primed for deception, jumping from one costly therapy, seminar, technique, or group, all seeking the ever-illusive “higher self” and the “god within.”

They would see themselves as “spiritual” people. They even refer to “the christ within” but it is a counter-christ. They may be shocked when they stand before the Lord and He says to them, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father in Heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21-23).

While there is time, share the gospel with them. Some have a Christian background and have twisted the terms you and I know. They will say they believe in God but it is the “god within.” They will flaunt their “Christ consciousness.”

This is just more end-time deception and delusion, but souls are involved so don’t write these people off without offering them new life! You are not responsible for their decision. And if you see the Lord Maitraya commercial on TV, use it as a reminder to pray without ceasing for the deception that abounds today.

It is also a reminder of the many “false christs” the Bible predicts for the last days. Whether or not there is any credibility in Crème and Maitraya really isn’t the point. The point is that many are looking for false saviors today.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

20 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • i wonder if when anti-christ comes on the scene some will see him as lord maitraya, islam as the mahdi, professing christians as jesus, buddahist as budda… interesting thing about the timing of this article is just as i was getting ready to read it i was thinking about a pot smoking friend i was talking to last night. he is very sharp and knows the bible. he geniunely believes he is a christian and even says the right stuff. he says he connects better in worship when he is high. i told him he is connecting with someone but not God. satan poses as God and drug use is sorcery. another dilusion by satan but he is convinced he is a christian. i’ll bet people even say lord maitraya is the same God with a different name.

    maitraya

  • You can always ask questions. You can ask the “If he died tonight” question. You know the one: “If you died tonight, would you go to heaven or hell?”

    If he answers “Heaven,” you can follow it up with “Why should God allow you into heaven?”

    That should tell you whether he believes in faith in Christ or his own works.

    Another good question to ask is: “Who is Jesus to you?” The answer you hope to get from a believer is something along the lines of “He is MY Savior and Lord.”

    Based on his answers, perhaps you can determine whether he is truly saved or not. If he’s not, then I would recommend having him read out loud salvation Scriptures (i.e., from “The Roman Road”), and then asking him, “What does this mean to you?”

    One book I recommend is Share Jesus Without Fear by Fay/Sheppard. I don’t agree with the heavy-handed guilt-as-manipulation tactics he uses to try to get people to witness; however, he has some great tools for witnessing to people!

    If your friend IS saved, then your best bet is to encourage him in his walk. I firmly believe that since God and Jesus don’t guilt us into anything, we shouldn’t do that to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Note that I’m not saying you do this; I’m just pointing out a truth!

    Laura

  • i was reading the account in the bible where God sent a lying spirit to entice ahab into battle to go to his death and miciah warned him. this corrosponds to god sending a “strong dilusion” in 2thess ch.2. while anti-christ is not revealed yet it seems the dilusion is already in effect. here is what i wonder about, why would God send a strong dilusion then warn people. wouldnt that be like me lying to my mother then telling her i lied?

  • laura, concerning my friend, i asked him all the questions and tho he says the right things i know in my heart he aint saved. he denies these things are wrong (getting high, going to parties and getting drunk..) its a classic case of self deception. to get his blood off my hands i told him what was up and he says “o.k. i been warned” nothing more i can do now, just pray.

  • The New Age teaches that Jesus, along with Sidharttah (the Buddha)and Muhammad, are all “ascended beings”; read “space alien.”

    All of this teaching comes from the Babylon “mystery” religion founded by Nimrod and his wife Semiramis (the Queen of Heaven [Mary] in the Book of Jeremiah), much of which was adopted by the Catholic [Universal] Church very early on to “Christianize” pagans.

    When the earliest European explorers visited the New World, they discovered that people in Mexico, Central and South America already had crosses [a symbol of Tammuz, Nimrod’s son, the sun god] and prayer beads, which is why they adapted so quickly to the Catholic religion.

    There is a distinct connection between the Church of Rome and every other man-made religion, including the New Age, that can’t be ignored when discussing the End Times and the Anti-christ.

    I recommend reading what W.E. Vine wrote on the subject.

  • thunder, this connection you speak of is why i wonder if to some people will veiw anti-christ as maitraya, islam as mahdi… “all Gods are the same”. its only a thought. that being said i wonder if the “strong delusion” is already beginning.

  • Hartdawg,

    I agree. I think you’ve done all you can. You, of course, can’t force someone to change. Either this person is saved and very deceived, or he’s not saved at all. Only the Lord knows that!

    Either way, this is in God’s hands. If he is a believer, then God will not let him continue in this lifestyle forever. If he isn’t a believer, God has witnessed to him through you.

    I’m curious, though. Does he not see his actions as sinful? I guess what I’m getting at is how does he “justify” his actions? Or does he?

    One thing you might consider praying for him is that God will break him. If God takes him to the absolute bottom, it might force him to call out for help! People don’t WANT help until they feel they NEED help!

    Laura

  • Actually, hartdawg, I think the “Great Delusion” has been growing for hundreds of years, probably just shortly after the last Apostle died.

    It’s like boiling a frog. If you throw a live frog in boiling water, he’ll just jump out. If you start with nice, comfortable water and turn the heat up slowly….

    That’s how Satan works: slowly and over long periods of time.

    The modern church has been indoctrinated (because we have separated ourselves from the Bible) with so much of this New Age nonsense, introduced before Abraham was even born, that we now have yoga and transendental meditation classes taught in many churches.

    Personally, I’d say we’re past the “Great Delusion” and are in the “Great Apostasy” stage.

  • It’s amazing to me that so many who are so zealous to reject Christ are so willing to jump on the bandwagon of the “false christs”.

  • laura, its not a breaking issue its a deception issue, as with many, many people these days he truly believes he is saved. so you arw right about him not wanting help. thunder i only partially agree with you. yes, the dilusion has been going on a long time and yes the apostasty has begun, BUT the dilusion will culminate with the anti-christ so no we are not past the dilusion yet.

  • Of course, we’re assuming that the “Great Apostasy” isn’t part of the “Strong Delusion.”

    I never meant to imply that the delusion was complete. Perhaps it was a poor choice of wording. I don’t know. But, if they are part of the same program, like boiling a frog, then the apostasy is part of the final culmination of the strong delusion. There will be (there already are) many so-called Christians who fall for all this New Age mumbo-jumbo.

    Again, I recommend W.E. Vine’s extensive writings on the Babylonian mystery religion and how they correlate to todays various religions, including Christianity. I wish I could put it all here, but it is very lengthy. I found it very enlightening.

  • i think the apostasty has to do with the “church” turning from doctrine and christ and the dilusion the world culminating in ant-christ

  • That’s exactly what the apostasy is, hartdawg. The church HAS turned from sound doctrine.

    Believe it or not, many pastors do not believe the Resurrection and/or the Virgin Birth ever happened. They do not believe that Jesus is God. They doubt the validity of the Bible, that it IS God’s Word. These things are the very heart of the Christian faith.

    They teach Buddhism, New Age, and Islam as being valid ways to God: all paths are equal. And these aren’t some fringe churches; these are major, mainstream denominations.

    They teach a warm-fuzzy Gospel where people can do anything [anything?] they want and God will bless it (Joel Osteen said that). We’re purpose driven and not Spirit driven.

    The apostasy is part of the strong delusion, in my opinion. I could be wrong, but it just seems to fit hand in glove.

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