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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Apr. 23, 1997
Update	: Jul. 24, 2025
Parts	: 04

Synopsis:



Back in 1997 when I first wrote this series, I stated that as we drew closer to the year 2000 by the Western calendar, we should expect to hear and see more questionable material being propagated by those individuals who claim to have some special esoteric knowledge, or perhaps a special link with entities who are not of this world. In some cases, I stated, these entities would probably be presented as advanced alien civilizations from other worlds who are coming to help us in our transition to a higher order of consciousness. Within the world of New Age thought, this belief in acquiring a new spiritual awareness is referred to as "Ascension".

In other instances, I noted that the so-called "revelatory" material would be attributed to channeled "spirit helpers". As I point out in my two series entitled "The Urantia Book: A Dangerous New Age Doctrine!" and "The Urantia Book: An Attack on the Blood Atonement!", the Urantia Book, which I personally refer to as the Unbelief Book, is one very good example of this kind of deception which has drawn a lot of people away from the truth of the Scriptures. It is totally antichrist in nature. If you are interested in learning why I consider that tome to be so blasphemous, please consider reading those two series.

In other instances, I mentioned that the so-called advanced knowledge would supposedly be delivered by different sages and philosophers from the past -- via channelers, of course -- who had presumably opened a channel of communication in order to illuminate the spiritual medium. One good example of this is the nonsense that continues to be espoused and promoted by one very deceived New Age woman named Dolores Cannon with her fictitious book called "Conversations With Nostradamus". You can learn about this subject in my 1997 two-part article called "Nostradamus: Prophet of God or Messenger of Satan?". It is just more invented deception.

Then, of course, we likewise have people who are supposedly being visited by angelic beings of light -- never mind what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15 -- as well as supposedly recently discovered lost parchments and other lost sources which contain questionable information that outright contradicts and challenges the foundational truths which we find written in the pages of the Holy Bible.

Another example of this which I offered back in 1997, was that of a certain Mr. Sheldon Nidle. When I first became aware of the things that were being expounded by Mr. Nidle -- imminent UFO mass landings, the Photon Belt theory and the so-called "Ascension Point" -- I took some interest in certain of his predictions. Of course, being the cautious person that I tend to be, I viewed all of Mr. Nidle's ideas with a great deal of skepticism. He wasn't even the author of some of these concepts. He merely borrowed them from a number of other people -- such as Samael Aun Weor, Paul Otto Hesse and Shirley Kemp -- and then he promoted said ideas as his own inventions.

Well, time can certainly be a revealer of truth, and it can also expose the false prophets for what they really are. It has now been twenty-eight long years since I wrote the first version of this series, and no imminent UFO mass landings have occurred. Neither has the Earth passed through Nidle's Photon Belt, bringing with it a shift in consciousness. So, as I question in such series as "Sorry, Jesus Is Not Coming at Any Moment", and in my article "The Day I Am Waiting For", how many times before have we seen prophecies or predictions with specific dates attached to them which ultimately fail? They are clearly too numerous to even mention here, and they originate from many different areas of both religion and the New Age thought movement.

However, one by one, these deceptive charlatans have been exposed for what they are when their predictions have failed to materialize in the time frames which they have attached to them. I am reminded of the following clear warnings from the Scriptures regarding such deceptive false prophets:

"But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."


"The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?"


"For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD."


"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."


"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many . . . And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many . . . For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."


"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."


"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."


"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"


"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."


"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."


"Believe not every spirit" John writes. Can it really be said any more clear than that? Those verses perfectly describe our current times in which we now have personal psychics galore, palm readers, necromancers, tarot card readers, tea readers, astrologists, and other charlatans. Sadly, as I point out in the aforementioned series, as well as in other series such as "2012: New Age Deception and Psychobabble" and "Modern False Prophets and Worldly Ecumenism", even our Christian faith has not remained immune to these deceptive, evil spirits. It is truly an absolute shame and embarrassment how many "wannabe prophets" now infect our faith with their nonsense. They are all over Facebook, which is why I wrote the article entitled "Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers". They give our faith a bad name; particularly when misguided Christians do it for money, as so many of them now love to do.

Back in 2011, I wondered what had happened to Sheldon Nidle after all of those years. And lo and behold -- not all that surprising in the least -- it appears that he had attached his star to the 2012 hype, and claimed the Earth would pass through the Photon Belt sometime in 2012. Well, I suppose we can add him to the list of deceivers who chose to use 2012 as a springboard to promote their ideas, or to earn money from it. One thing about these deceivers is that they are forced to constantly change their narrative, their predictions and their goals, because their "prophecies" fail repeatedly. In the case of Nidle, he seems to have partially disappeared from the radar since the early 2000s. At this current time, assuming he is still alive, he will be almost 79 years old.

I am also reminded of a host of other authors who mix their Christian faith with New Age thought and other nonsense. One charlatan who I mention in particular in the series "2012: New Age Deception and Psychobabble", is the deceased writer and charlatan, Tom Horn. That deceptive man wrote book after book in which he spouted off his nonsense, and no doubt made a handsome profit at the same time. He likewise appeared on a number of television shows with other charlatans similar to himself. As they say, birds of a feather flock together. Such characters feed off of each and promote each other in order to supposedly validate themselves and their bogus claims.

If there is one thing which I can surely say, it is that if the times have changed since 1997 when I originally penned this series, they have certainly changed for the worse. The spiritual deception in the world today is clearly growing stronger with each passing year. For example, about three months before I performed the first update on this series back in 2011, a certain news article appeared on the Yahoo news site called "Retired NORAD Officer's New Book Predicts a Tentative Worldwide UFO Display on October 13, 2010". I was rather surprised that Yahoo would even publish such a story. I was equally surprised that a retired professional military officer would go so far out on the limb by making the controversial claims that he made. The September 14, 2010 news article stated the following in part:

----- Begin Quote -----

"A newly-published 352-page book by a retired Air Force officer, Stanley A. Fulham, tentatively predicts October 13, 2010 as the date for a massive UFO display over the world's principal cities. According to the author, the aliens will neither land nor communicate on that date; they are aware from eons of experience with other planets in similar conditions their sudden intervention would cause fear and panic.

The book, Challenges of Change (3rd ed.), reports this event will be the initial interaction in a process leading to mankind's acceptance of the alien reality and technologies for the removal of poisonous gases from the earth's atmosphere in 2015, if not sooner."

----- End Quote -----

Well, October 13th came and went, and obviously, absolutely nothing happened, unless it occurred while I was sleeping. I imagine that Mr. Fulham must have felt rather foolish when his predicted UFO flap did not materialize. I would too if I had written a foolish book that was based upon communicating with Outer Space aliens -- who Mr. Fulham referred to as the Transcendors -- by way of a channeler. Yes, my friends, by way of a channeler. Some people just never seem to learn. But that a highly disciplined military officer would be deceived by such a ruse? Wow! The same Yahoo news article also noted the following:

----- Begin Quote -----

"For more than a decade, through the services of a world renowned channeler, the author has communicated with an ethereal group of entities known as the Transcendors -- 43,000 very old souls who combine their vast experience and knowledge through eons of incarnations, providing advice and information to humans in search of basic realities of mankind's existence."

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As I said, I honestly don't know what this man was thinking. Considering his military training, what would induce him to fall for such nonsense? Of course, as such people often tend to do, they will simply claim that the aliens changed their mind at the last minute, or some other such foolishness. In fact, it seems to be their standard practice to always leave an open door, just in case their predictions don't occur as they anticipate. In the case of Mr. Fulham, he used this very ploy by stating that if the aliens didn't appear by the end of 2010, we should blame the aliens, and not him. The article concluded with the following exit strategy:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Fulham clarifies there are no absolutes; the principal of free will and choice that exists with all souls precludes all absolute realities, and the aliens may decide to postpone their intervention -- but the Transcendors confirm it will nonetheless occur in 2010. Quoting the author, the event will "occur this year, in what will surely be one of the great dramas of our galaxy, the introduction of their alien civilizations and technologies to mankind. We are not alone, and our world will have changed forever."

----- End Quote -----

And blabbity, blah, blah. That's all folks, until next time. As I have said so many times before, it is time for everyone to wake up and stop being duped by these false prophets and false messiahs, these false seers and prognosticators, these alien and UFO promoters, these 2012 Mayan Calendar advocates, and all of the other subtle deceivers who seem to grow like weeds. The annoying thing about weeds is that if one chooses to chop them down, within a relatively short period, new ones appear in their place. It is a never-ending battle. However, Jesus offered us some very wise advice concerning spiritual weeds, when He stated the following in the Gospel of Matthew:

"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn . . . Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."


There are many such weeds -- or deceptive spirits and lying voices -- in the world right now, which some folks, due to their foolish rejection of the one true God and the truth of His Word, have sadly received with open arms and minds. In my view, I believe everyone should sincerely question how much of this current New Age material is actually God-inspired, and how much of it might be demon-inspired. How much of it agrees with the Bible, and how much of it contradicts what the Bible teaches us? As I have said before, God's Word is our only reliable measuring rod with which we should compare all things. When people choose to reject His Word, it serves as an open invitation for strong delusion. Furthermore, the Lord will oblige by sending delusion, if that is what people truly want. Consider the following Bible verses:

"I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not."


"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy."


". . . because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:"


So to reiterate an earlier point, whenever anyone starts to make all kinds of predictions, whether they are a Christian, or a New Age psychic or channeler -- such as Sheldon Nidle, Gordon Scallion, Kryon Metatron, Oahspe, Ashtar, and a host of many others-- when they start attaching specific dates to their predictions, they are really asking for trouble. They are climbing out onto a limb and sawing it off. Unless they are absolutely convinced of the reliability of their source of information, and are certain of their understanding and interpretation of the information that they have been given, it is indeed a very foolish idea to provide specific dates. If you don't believe that this is so, then just look at all of the misguided Christians on Facebook who to this very day continue to make erroneous claims regarding the Rapture of the Saints, the Great Tribulation and the Return of Christ.

As we have now seen, not only do false predictions discredit them when they are wrong, but it also discredits who or what they claim to be their source of information. Furthermore, and even more importantly, failed predictions feed the fires of doubt in the would-be believers, while at the same time providing ungodly scoffers, debunkers and non-believers with more ammunition with which they try to discredit the truth of the Bible, when it is presented to people.

In other words, one of the problems with failed prophecies, misguided New Age predictions, silly psychic readings and such, is that they result in collateral damage by hardening and desensitizing people's hearts, and filling them with doubts about all things spiritual. Thus, when a Christian comes along and tries to share the Gospel message with them, because of the generalizations most people tend to make by lumping everything together and stereotyping people, this Christian is likewise thrown in with all the rest of the deceivers. He runs into a wall of resistance and is viewed as just being another one of many crazed, false messengers.

The sad end result of this foolish behavior -- particularly by Christians who give false prophecies and who make predictions which fail -- is that more and more people scoff at our faith. They think that we are nuts and have gone bonkers. As one good example, consider the many misguided, gullible Christians who have been deceived by the so-called Flat Earth Theory. I have already written three articles regarding this subject, because I see how much damage it is causing to our faith. If you were not now a Believer in Jesus Christ, would you want to join a faith which believes that the Earth is as flat as a pancake? So false prophecies and predictions, misguided date setters, and fringe doctrines not only make us look like total fools, but they also deter people from even seriously considering our Christian faith. Do you see my point? Lord help us all!

Tragically, not only worldly people are negatively affected by these false prophets, false prognosticators foolish date setters and weird doctrine promoters. The sad truth is that even weak Christians can begin to question their faith when they blindly place their trust in those people who make such misguided prophecies and predictions, and then those things simply fail to materialize. Let's be honest here. It is not easy to admit to yourself, and to realize that you have been following someone's teachings -- perhaps for many years -- only to later discover that you were completely deceived by them. You may even begin to wonder if any other people who are in similar positions of Christian leadership are also wrong regarding some of the things that they say and teach. I am reminded of something which Jesus said, and which the Apostle Peter wrote. Consider the following Bible verses:

". . . Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"


"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."


Personally, I have no doubt that Satan himself is behind this vile scheme. I believe that he purposely sends his demons to these false prophets, New Age advocates, psychics and seers, and even to Christians who are lifted up in their pride, and purposely has these demons lie to these people, just so he can purposely discredit them, and make fools out of them, in the end. Don't be so surprised. The Devil thinks nothing of destroying his own human pawns. So by raising up these false prophets, false messengers, false psychics, preachers of very strange doctrines, date setters, etc., and then discrediting them in the end, Satan preempts, and neutralizes, any true Prophets and messengers who may come along later, by sowing strong doubt in people's hearts. This is indeed a very tricky but effective tactic.

There should be no doubt then that strong delusion is the order of our times. All of these false prophets and phony messengers certainly seem to be an indication of it. As I explain in articles such as "Faith and the Shroud of Turin", true faith should not require evidence, or great signs and wonders such as aerial displays of UFOs, images of Jesus on tortillas, so-called bleeding statues, channeled messages, fake healings, or any other gimmicks which are used by some rather deceptive people, before we choose to believe. True faith believes, just because God's Word says so. As people of faith, we should not require any physical proof of God's existence. Furthermore, as we are also told in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, faith is believing without seeing, and not seeing and then choosing to believe. You will recall that Jesus also told Thomas that blessed are those who believe, without having ever seen. Consider these Bible verses:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."


"But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."


Sadly, as we have now seen, in this current age of apostasy -- or falling away from, or abandoning the truth of God's Word -- some people require signs and wonders before they will even believe, or at least as a means to help strengthen their weak faith. As I point out in articles such as "Lying Wonders of Our Age", "Mary Worship, Christianity and Roman Catholicism", "Have You Been Slain In the Spirit?" and "God's Golden Teeth, Or Satan's Delusion?", Satan is more than happy to give these people whatever they want, if it means getting them into his bag. The Devil will go to any length, and will use any ruse, in order to deceive and trick naive, gullible, ignorant people. This includes a lot of weak Christians who should know better. After all, as the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."


In fact, as I engaged in performing the first update of this series in 2011, I came across a news article which explained how Roman Catholics in the United States were finally able to boast that they likewise have a site which the Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized as a place where Mary -- the mother of Jesus -- is claimed to have appeared several times over 166 years ago in 1859. Headlined as "Wisconsin on the Map to Pray With Mary", this December 23, 2010 New York Times article states the following regarding the alleged apparitions in Champion, Wisconsin:

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Now, a little chapel among the dairy farms here, called Our Lady of Good Help, has joined that august company in terms of religious status, if not global fame. This month, it became one of only about a dozen sites worldwide, and the first in the United States, where apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been officially validated by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1859, the year after Mary is said to have appeared in Lourdes, a Belgian immigrant here named Adele Brise said she was visited three times by Mary, who hovered between two trees in a bright light, clothed in dazzling white with a yellow sash around her waist and a crown of stars above her flowing blond locks. As instructed, Ms. Brise devoted her life to teaching Catholic beliefs to children.

On Dec. 8, after a two-year investigation by theologians who found no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures and other signs of divine intervention, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay declared "with moral certainty" that Ms. Brise did indeed have encounters "of a supernatural character" that are "worthy of belief."

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Considering how long ago this occurred, I would say that it is a safe bet for the Roman Catholic Church, because there is no way to prove, or disprove, that the "miracle" actually occurred. No actual witnesses remain alive to talk about it; so all that remain are stories concerning the event, as well as the testimonies of people who attribute "cures and other signs of divine intervention" to the holiness of the place. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that within a matter of a few years after this story broke, brisk business occurred in the town of Champion, as new hotels and other tourist-related enterprises began to sprout up in the area, as has occurred at other Roman Catholic apparition sites around the world.

Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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